Latter Days of James McCloud
by Trashbag08
Summary: The final ten years of the life of James McCloud. Please R&R! Check out my own review of the story in my profile.
1. Nine Months Later

**Nine Months Later**

* * *

_Apartment #207_

James sat in his couch, watching the T.V. He turned to a local news channel after deciding that he's had enough of the _Seinfeld_ marathon showing on Channel 57. On the news channel, it showed video clips of a memorial service he attended earlier for all of the Cornerians who died in the war, as well as the victims of the Satoushi City bombing. After that, it showed an interview with the newly elected General Robert Pepper. He talked about his experiences in the war, including being under the leadership of the late Major James Edwards and how he had to briefly take on the role after he had been critically injured.

"It was tough, not only because I was now in his shoes, but also because I couldn't believe that he was really dying in my hands. I mean, he has really stuck his neck out for all of the Rangers who were under his command," he said.

"He was a good man," the interviewer agreed.

"The best," said Pepper.

James took a look at the sunglasses Edwards gave him, which were placed on top of the T.V. It seemed as though it will remain there forever, as he thought it wouldn't be right to wear them. He turned off the T.V. and took out his cell phone. Any minute now, he was awaiting a call from the hospital. He wished he could be there for Vixy, but couldn't because of the memorial service. He could have gone after the service had ended, but he was scared. Of all of the hell he went through, he was scared of this event. He always imagined what this particular day would be like. He imagined that he would be sitting there, with his wife's hand in his, supporting her in this battle. Well, he will be in a second. Literally a second, as his phone started ringing. He immediately answered it. "Hello?"

"It's time," said Peppy's voice.

* * *

_Hospital_

James darted across the hallways of the hospital, looking for room 347. He found it and already he could hear Vixy's cries. Almost knocking down the doctors and nurses (which would've been disastrous), he went to Vixy's side. She looked at him as if to say, "Where the hell have you been?!" He felt guilty and took her hand, which didn't help much with the pain. What the hell was he scared of, now that he's seeing what she's going through? But her eyes softened up as the pain started to subside, and her cries were silenced by a baby's cries. The nurse brought the little baby fox up to her, and she smiled as held it in her arms.

James looked at the baby with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. He went up close to that little face and could barely breath. Vixy kissed him on the cheek, forgiving him of being late. He wiped the tears off his face and smiled as their baby started to silence his cries.

"James Fox McCloud, Jr.," he whispered.

* * *

_Training Center #3_

He could barely keep his mind on track the next day. He would rather be at the hospital looking at his baby some more than looking at hundreds of sweaty men work out. But he was the Captain and he had to look over these guys as well as inspect them and grade them. He looked at his clipboard, and he looked at the soldiers, but he didn't write anything down. He couldn't even pay attention to how well they were doing. But the soldiers were understanding, as they knew about the event of yesterday.

"Jimmy? Jimmy!" He turned to see Peppy smiling at him. "Not feeling up to work today, I see."

James grinned weakly. "I really, really want to get out of here and get to the hospital. How long do we have?"

"I think it's best if I didn't tell you."

"Thanks," he said weakly. "I just don't want to be one of those fathers whom are never there for their son."

"He's not even a day old, Jimmy."

"Still, I wish I can see him right now."

"Good looking kid, I might say," complemented Peppy.

"Thanks."

"And Jimmy, if you ever need a babysitter, I'm available for that. Free of charge."

James smiled. "Much appreciated."

Peppy looked at his watch. "Um, I don't know if this is supposed to make you feel better, but it's time for the Arwing lesson. And it's your turn."

He sighed. "Well, maybe some flying might cheer me up. I haven't flown an Arwing in a while." He departed and walked over to the hangar bay. He saw eleven new Rangers prepped and ready and standing next to their assigned Arwing. The ships were all lined up horizontally, with Arwing #7 in the far left. It was nice that he was using the exact same Arwing that he used in his Ranger days. The Rangers all saluted him, which James responded to. He saw some familiar faces among the group: Corporal Monroe and Private First Classes Townshend, Page, and Plant. He started giving the lecture, which he knew wasn't going through their heads. They've already been through this lecture before and they didn't need to hear it again. But it was required that he gave this lecture over and over again until they have the whole damn thing memorized.

After that, they all climbed aboard their Arwings. ROB–32 started the take–off procedure, which took about thirty seconds to go through. In those thirty seconds, James ordered the Rangers to start up their engines. He heard the high pitched whirring sound of the engines charging up power. ROB released the restraining docks from left to right, and the Arwings were catapulted out of the hangar bay, as if they were on sling shots.

It was still a thrill to him soaring through the sky like this. He led the way for the others who were trying to keep up. They ascended above the clouds and started practicing their maneuvers. James was the first person to perfect the barrel–roll/somersault, which he thought was a useless move, but nevertheless it stunned the Rangers in training. For now, they practiced the various maneuvers the Arwing could do, and there were plenty of them. He watched from up high as they attempted them, giving advice on the radio whenever they had a hard time. They reminded him of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. He was in Edwards' position now, and down below were Jack Lombardi, Robert Pepper, Elias MacDonald, Martin Monroe, Fredrick Hamill, Peppy Hare, David Johnson, Pigma Dengar, Christopher Phoenix, and Matthew Lynx.

He thought of the survivors and how they were living their lives now. Lombardi was a family man now, quitting the army permanently to raise his son (who was a ravenous little tyke, he remembered). He has his own restaurant now. Pepper, of course, is General. Peppy and Pigma were instructors like he was, and Matt quit the army, like Lombardi, in order to be close to his family. He works in real estate.

James thought about following Lombardi and Matt's footsteps and quiting the army to be with his son. He would go back to being a cop, just protecting and serving like all cops do. But honestly, he loved this job. As much as he wanted this day to end right now, it still brought him joy to see other soldiers work their asses off to become the best that they can be. He wants to do the same for his son when he gets older.

* * *

_Hospital_

He walked back into room 347 and saw Vixy feeding James Jr. He smiled at them and pulled up a chair beside the bed.

"Wow," he said, looking at the baby.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling.

There was very little conversation between the two of them, and there didn't need to be. She picked the baby up and carried him over to James. He held his hands out and cuddled him up immediately, afraid of dropping him. Already, he could feel that this kid was going to be strong. When this baby grows up, he's going to be stronger and braver than his dad ever was. And James was going to make sure of that. All the horrible things he's gone through, he'd go through it again for this kid.


	2. Moving Day

**Moving Day**

* * *

_Eladard_

Since everybody and their mother would know where Eladard was by this point, there was no reason to stay here any longer. Andross had ordered the complete destruction of this planet to leave no trace of their being here. They would all travel to Papetoon, and there he would call Pigma to tell him of the happening. In less than four hours, Eladard will be no more.

Andross looked down upon his city as everybody gathered up all of their possessions. He has already done so, except for a couple of particular items. The newspapers he kept up against the wall, he was going to leave behind. It was time to let these memories go, he thought. No point dwelling on them. Dr. Bowman was gone, and all that was left in him was Andross Oikonny.

* * *

_Michael West High School_

_Seventeen years ago..._

17 year–old Andrew Bowman sat in his seat at school, not caring what the teacher was yapping about this time. It was Physics class, and he knew all of the material already from his parents. It didn't matter, since he was about to be out of this place in a few minutes. Right now, he had smuggled a bomb into the school. A bomb of his own design was sitting in his backpack in his locker right now. With just a touch of a button, this whole place was going to burn. See, this bomb wasn't going to explode. When Andrew sets it off, it was going to flame up and it would expand. The fire will spread throughout the school and it'll incinerate in seconds. And it won't be just the school that will be affected. It'll spread through the entire parking lot and spread through two blocks of this area. Why would Andrew do this? He thought it would look cool.

Andrew excused himself to go to the bathroom. After sneaking past the hall monitors who thought they were king because they could wander the halls, he walked out of the school with no problem. He kept out of sight from some of the teachers who were already done with the day and were heading to their cars. He waited behind one of the cars, waiting for one of the teachers to get into her car and to drive away. It took her a while because she had such a fat fucking ass. It was mind boggling to think that she could even move. She finally drove away and Andrew headed out of the parking lot quickly. He kept walking down the street until he was two blocks out of range. He walked to a McDonald's and pulled out his wallet to make sure there was money. As he took it out, he hit a button on a trigger that set the bomb off.

Flames spread like wildfire throughout the street. People, as expected, ran, flailing their arms around and screaming at the top of their lungs. Andrew walked into the McDonald's as the patrons yelled in terror at the sight outside. "Can I order a Big Mac?" he asked the confused employee.

* * *

_Eladard_

Andross shook off the memory and decided to head down. He took his bags and walked to the elevator. Looking at the newspapers one more time, he entered the elevator and descended. He reached the first floor and exited. A flock of workers and soldiers were heading out of the building, most of them carrying supplies.

"Sir! We've got three hours. We'd better get on the ship."

Andross nodded, leading everybody out. The ship was large enough to carry the entire population but nobody would ever detect it. Andross installed a cloaking device that would disable any sort of radar or anything that could find the ship. He wished he could make it completely invisible, but whatever. Already, there were millions crowding along the streets to get on board. The ship had taken up the entire airfield, with all of the other transportations docked inside. The crowd split down the middle to let Andross on first.

He entered the cockpit area, where the pilots were waiting. "How long sir?" they asked. Andross held up three fingers to indicate three hours. They nodded and went back to their business. He sat down on the seat behind them and decided to sleep the time off.


	3. The Baby Boom

**The Baby Boom**

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

General Pepper looked in frustration as Beltino Toad showed him a real time map of the area near Eladard.

"You didn't expect him to hang around, did you?" Toad asked.

"No," replied the General. "But blowing up the planet is something new."

"He is crafty," Toad said.

Pepper sighed, wondering if they would ever get this guy. "How's the wife?" he asked, to change the subject.

"She's doing fine. Seven months pregnant so far, so it'll only be a matter of time. Didn't James McCloud have a baby?"

"Yep, just about two weeks ago. Named him after himself."

"Nice." They both walked out of the computer room and wandered around. "How's Richard Lombardi doing?"

"He's barely two years old, and he's already wilder than his father ever was. And you know how he doesn't respond to Richard, right?" Pepper asked, to which Toad nodded. "Well, Jack finally found out how to get him to respond. His first word."

"Falco? That's not even a word."

"Nevertheless, he seems to like that better than his name. He's always saying it anyway."

They both bumped into James, who was at work but had nothing to do.

"Hey McCloud. How's the baby?" asked Pepper.

"Oh, he's doing fine. He is probably the calmest baby I've ever seen. I've only heard him cry three times this whole week," said James with a grin. "Unlike little Richard Lombardi."

"Haha, we were just talking about Richard," said Toad. "Or 'Falco,' if you want."

"Yeah, I've heard of that. Hey Pepper, you know Martin Monroe's brother, Lucas? He's having a baby too."

"Fuck, am I the only one not having a baby?" asked Pepper. They laughed.

"It's just that time of year. Come on Pepper, you gotta go out some more," said James.

"Nah, that's the curse of being General. You have no time for anything else. But hey, I like it that way."

"I feel for you, man."

* * *

_Jack Lombardi's household – 504 West 84th Street_

James watched as Richard "Falco" Lombardi scurried around the house like a wild man. Vixy laughed as she held her son in her arms. James Jr. was crying from all the commotion Falco was causing and she was trying to calm him down.

"Falco!" Jack called. "Come here!" Falco jumped onto the back of his wheelchair, trying to push it. "You wanna calm down a bit?"

"No! Falco!" screamed Falco, and he ran to the kitchen where his mom was. Jack sighed and looked at James and Vixy with a weak smile.

"Sorry to bother your son like that," said Jack.

James laughed. "It's alright. He hasn't been crying all week, so I guess this is a nice change."

"All week? Wow. When we brought this kid home, he couldn't stop wailing. I could still hear it ringing in my ears even when he stopped crying."

"Hehe. You sending him to the army?"

"Ha! Do I have a choice?" Jack smiled as he saw his wife, Marcia, drag Falco along with her dress.

"So how are you two doing?" she asked, trying to pry her son off her dress.

"We're fine. I'm still tired though," said Vixy.

"That'll pass. Although it hasn't for me yet," Marcia said, as Falco tried to claim her head like a mountain. He jumped to the couch where Vixy was sitting and looked at James Jr. Then he looked up at her.

"He a fox?" he asked.

"He a fox," responded Vixy, nodding and smiling.

"Fox!" he shouted at James Jr., waiting for a response. James Jr. just looked up and smiled.

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

Pepper didn't know how much time he spent looking at the map. He couldn't understand how Eladard's leaders could just let Andross blow their planet up. How persuasive could he be to get permission to blow their planet up for cover? Well, persuasive enough to convince five planets that one other planet is making weapons of mass destruction, he guessed. But what he didn't understand is if Andross has the power to blow up an entire planet, then why doesn't he use it against Corneria? Possibly for a threat he was going to pose later on? For whatever reason, he was glad it was keeping them alive.

He was thinking about where Andross would be right now. He wouldn't be in any of the planets near Eladard; they were all inhabited, anyway. It had to be a planet farther away from it. He thought about Venom, but even Andross wouldn't be desperate enough to use that as a hiding place. It was a god awful excuse for a planet, filled with radiation and pollution. Nobody could live there. He kept looking at the map, ruling out places he couldn't be and thinking of possibilities of places he could be.

"Pepper?"

He turned to see James. "Oh, McCloud." He turned back to the map.

"You don't look too well," he said.

"Yeah, well I don't feel too well either. This Andross thing is eating me up inside."

"Same with all of us, I assume. Look sir, if he really had an army and that power to blow up planets, I think he would've used those against us by now."

"That's what I was thinking too," said Pepper.

"Which got me thinking, sir. I don't think a man like Andross really cares whether he wins or loses. I think he's sadistic enough to have millions die for the fun of it," James explained. "If you really think about it, the war was sloppily executed on his part, which I don't think would've been the case had he actually taken that seriously. And how he bombed Satoushi City. He must've known the other planets would realize we wouldn't bomb our own city."

Pepper was silent. "That definitely does sound like Andross. What I'm wondering now is how is he keeping that army of his under control?"

"That, I don't know," said James. "I know as much about that as his exact whereabouts right now."

"Yeah. I'm thinking of searching the planets around where Eladard used to be, even though he probably isn't going to be on any of them."

"Like searching for a needle in a stack of needles," said James.

* * *

_Beltino Toad's household – 309 Lake Side Rd._

_Two weeks later..._

James and Vixy, along with Jack and Marcia Lombardi and Peppy, visited Beltino Toad to see their new baby. Robert Toad came two months early, but he was in perfect health. Vixy and Marcia gushed over the baby in Samantha Toad's arms while James, Jack, Beltino and Peppy watched as Falco ran around as usual, with James Jr. sitting on the floor, laughing at him. "Come on, fox! Catch me! Catch me, fox!"

"I don't know why he won't call him James, or Jimmy, or something," said Jack. "He just keeps calling him 'fox'."

James smiled. "It's fine. It's his middle name, anyway."

Robert also watched as Falco was going ballistic, as if he were thinking, "Why am I in the same room as that guy?" He looked away and continued played with the Rubix Cube that was in his hand.

"He really seems to be trying to solve it," said Peppy.

"I know," said Samantha. "He's been working on it since we got home."

James Jr. tried to crawl after Falco, who climbed on top of the couch to look at the baby. Robert stared up at him, like he was trying to say, "Get the fuck away from me, you weirdo." Falco jumped from the couch, over James Jr.'s head, and continued to do what he was doing before. James Jr. decided it was no use to try to chase him any more, and lifted his arms up to Vixy to tell her he wants to be picked up. Vixy obliged and cradled him.

Peppy watched as this was all going on. "Your kids couldn't be any more different," he remarked.

Jack smiled. "I know. They're like complete opposites of each other."

"Can't imagine how these three are going to be like when they grow up," said James.


	4. Target Practice and The Jack

**Target Practice**

* * *

_Apartment #207_

James woke up to hear his son wailing. Vixy was still fast asleep (she was a pretty heavy sleeper). He moved her arm off his chest as slowly as he could, got up off the bed and went to the cradle. He picked up his son and hugged him as tightly as he could, his tears soaking into his shoulder. James Jr. still whimpered, but he calmed down a bit. "Want something to drink?" asked James, wondering if he could understand him.

He went to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of milk. James Jr. looked at the bottle and held his arms out. James gave him the bottle and he immediately started gulping it down. He felt a sense of joy as he watched his son drink down the bottle. He even felt a sense of joy when he took the bottle away and he spit up all over his shirt.

"Thanks... thanks for that," said James.

* * *

_Training Center #3_

Pigma watched over the firing range, seeing the soldiers practice their shots. Peppy came up from behind him. "How are they doing?"

"Lousy," replied Pigma, to which Peppy smiled. "Who's doing Arwing training today?"

"I am. You have it next week."

"Yippie."

James entered the room, yawning and rubbing his eyelids sore.

"No sleep?" asked Peppy.

"I was trying to get James to sleep," said James.

"Yeah, how is he doing?" asked Pigma.

"He's throwing up a bit more than I'd like him too, but he's doing fine," James replied, yawning again.

"That's nice to hear. Hey, can you watch over these guys a minute, I gotta make a phone call."

"To who?"

"Cable company. They're fucking me up the ass and I want to quit."

"Alright." James took the clipboard from Pigma, who then went outside with his cell phone. It was a cell phone made by Andross, so of course it could reach impossibly long distances without any pay at all.

"Hello?" said a voice which definitely didn't sound like Andross.

"This is Pigma Dengar, can I talk to Andross?"

"Andross is sleeping right now. We're almost to Papetoon and I'll tell him to contact you there," said the voice.

"Alright," said Pigma. He kept the cell phone at his ear and pretended to have a fake phone call, since he was supposed to be talking to a cable company right now. He waved to Jack Lombardi, who had his kid on his lap while he rode his wheelchair inside.

"Hey, Lieutenant!" shouted James, who just saw Jack ride into the room. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to see how everything is doing here. And I wanted to show Richard around."

"Alrighty then. Just don't let him near the weapons."

Some of the trainees gathered around their visitor, while Falco silently escaped from the crowd with nobody noticing.

"I remember when I was training you people here. Biggest bunch of misfits I've ever seen. And now look at all of you."

"You sound like an old geezer," said Peppy, who then started imitating Jack in an old man's voice.

"Hey, you watch yourself boy," said Jack, laughing at the attempt Peppy made to make fun of him. "I may not have any legs, but I've got more power in my index finger than you do in your entire body!"

As they had their fake argument, with everybody laughing and enjoying the whole thing, Falco was taking a look around. He looked at the gun on the ground that one of the trainees left. "Cool," he said, picking it up. Looking at the target over on the other side of the room, he took aim and fired.

The sound of the gun startled the entire crowd. Jack looked in horror as he saw his son trying to fire the gun, which had just run out of ammo. "FALCO!" he screamed, rolling over to him. Falco dropped the gun and jumped onto his father's lap, smiling.

"Who left their fucking gun on the floor?!" shouted James. Nobody raised their hands. "Fine then," said James. "You're goddamn lucky that gun only had one shot left."

Peppy walked over to the target as Jack berated his son (his son, of course, not listening). He took a look at the fresh shot Falco had just fired and was breathless. "He hit the bull's eye," he whispered. He ran over to the crowd and told them of the miracle that just happened. The others gaped while Jack was wide eyed.

"We've got ourselves a regular marksman here," remarked James.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess we do," said Jack silently, who had just forgotten all of the anger that he had felt only seconds ago.

* * *

_Apartment #207_

James walked into his apartment and immediately collapsed onto the couch. Vixy walked up to him, carrying James Jr. She put him on top of James' back, smiling.

"Get this rock off me," moaned James.

"Long day?" asked Vixy, picking her son up.

"Oh yeah," said James, getting up and telling about the happenings of the day. Vixy was startled when he told her of Falco and the gun.

"Oh my lord," said Vixy.

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm so glad he didn't point it at himself."

"Yeah, so am I. More so is Jack. Although honestly, I think now he's happier about the bull's eye Falco made than the fact that he's alive."

Vixy laughed. "That's horrible."

James smiled. "Let me hold him."

Vixy handed James Jr. over to him and he cradled him. His son looked up at his dad, smiling and making the typical baby noises that babies make.

"Um... Vixy?"

"Yeah?"

"Well..." He made a gesture to James Jr.

"Oh no, it's your turn now," said Vixy, smiling.

"Oh, come on," said James, feigning complaint.

"Hey, you're holding him."

James sighed. "Fine..." He put James Jr. down for a second to get the materials. He came back and sat down by James Jr., rolling him over on his back. Wincing, he held in his breath to resist the stench and dove in...

* * *

**The Jack**

* * *

_Satoushi City_

Bowman walked in a bar, looking around for a man named William Kup. A drunken cat walked by him, rubbing her tail around his leg as she did. He shuddered and walked over to the bartender, asking for a beer.

"Excuse me, you know a William Kup around here?" he asked.

"Kup? Yeah, what do you want with him?" the bartender asked.

"I'm Andrew Bowman. He's expecting me."

"Oh yeah, you're the bomb guy. Hold on, he'll be with you shortly."

Bowman nodded. He gulped down his beer, looking as some prostitute at the other end of the bar was eyeing him. He smiled at her, then turned to see the bartender opening a door down on the floor.

"He's ready for you," he said.

_What is he, some sort of doctor?_ he thought. He walked to the door and looked down. There was a ladder leading down to a brightly lit room. He climbed down, immediately seeing the most perverse setting he's ever seen. William Kup, wearing nothing but a robe, was sitting on a wide leather chair, surrounded by women. Seriously, it was as if this guy couldn't get enough of sex. The women were either touching him or stripping for him.

"You Bowman?" he asked, muffled by his cigarette.

"Yeah. I have what you want." He pulled out a bomb from his pocket and gave it to Kup, who then waved the girls away. He inspected it, looking at it up close.

"Now this could be useful," remarked Kup.

"And I have something else," said Bowman.

"What is it?" asked Kup.

"Consider it a bonus." He pulled out a bag of white powder and showed it to Kup.

"Is that...?"

"You could say it is, but even better. I made it myself."

"You made yourself a drug? How much free time do you have on your hands?"

"Believe me, a lot. I've been hiding away for a while," said Bowman.

"Why?"

"I won't go into that now."

Kup took the bag and scooped up a small portion of it. He held it up to his nose and sniffed it. Bowman waited as Kup tried to snap out of the high state he was in after that.

"Oh...jeez," moaned Kup, dropping his cigarette.

Bowman smiled. "You like?"

"Ooh... hell yeah," replied Kup, shaking his head. "Now that, too, can be useful."

"I'm glad."

"Now Bowman, this bomb is great for making threats or deals, but this right here," he said, holding up the bag, "can make both of us rich."

"I'm listening."

Kup looked down and stomped on the cigarette he dropped earlier. "Do you have any more time on your hands to make more of this?"

"No problem at all."

"Good. And in return, I'll give you money. Plus, any one of these girls here." To that, the women turned to Bowman, smiling.

Bowman smiled back. "_Just _one?"

"You can have more when you bring me more of this," replied Kup, grinning.

Bowman looked around at the crowd of women. Then he remembered the one upstairs at the end of the bar.

"There was one of them upstairs, getting drunk," said Bowman.

"Oh yeah, Pam. She's always up there. Sure, you can take her."

"Thank you," said Bowman, climbing up the ladder, much to the other women's disappointment. He looked to see Pam, who looked back at him. He smiled at her and prompted her to come to him. She obliged and followed him out of the bar, her arm around his waist.

* * *

_Later that night..._

_She gave me her mind  
Then she gave me her body  
But it seems to me  
That she gave it to anybody  
But I made her cry  
And I made her scream  
I took her high  
And I curdled her cream  
But how was I to know that she had been there before  
She told me she was a virgin  
She was number nine, ninety-nine on the clinical list  
And I fell in love with the dirty little bitch_

_She's got the Jack  
(I hate to tell you this darling)_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_I searched her mind  
And then I searched her body  
...But so did everybody  
But she gave me her heart  
And she gave me her soul  
And a great, big - warn out  
Empty hole  
But how was I to know it had been filled in before  
She said, "Bon, I've never had the urgency"  
She was number nine, ninety-nine on the critical list  
And I fell in love with the dirty little bitch_

_She's got the Jack  
(I'll kill her)_

_She's got the Jack  
(Oh and it hurts)_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

_She's got the Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack_

_She's got the Jack_

* * *

_The next morning..._

Bowman walked back into the bar and let Pam go to her usual spot. He climbed back down the ladder to see William Kup there. Early in the morning, and he's already with the ladies.

"Hello, Bowman. Enjoy the night?"

"Oh yeah, she was great," said Bowman. "Except for one thing."

"What?" asked Kup.

"Well... she gave me the Jack."

Kup paused. "The _what?_"

"You know... the Jack," Bowman said again. "I woke up this morning, and there it was on the sheets."

Kup looked surprised. "I could've sworn she was clean."

"Well, apparently not," said Bowman, somewhat angry.

"Damn. But you know what, I can fix you up right. Here." He walked over to a drawer and pulled out a bag of powder with a label that Bowman couldn't read. "It won't cure it, I'm afraid, but one shot of this and you won't see or feel the symptoms for a long time."

"How long?" asked Bowman.

"I don't know. I took it a month ago and it still hasn't popped up."

Bowman took the bag and looked at it. "So you have it too, eh?"

"Yeah," said Kup, pointing at a woman standing at the ladder. "It's her fault." She giggled.

Bowman took out his own syringe he carried along just in case. "Can I shoot it up now?"

"Sure, go ahead."

* * *

_Atmosphere of Papetoon_

Andross woke up from the dream he had. It was like he had videotaped that whole encounter and played it back in his head.

"Sir? We're here," said the pilot.

It took a second for Andross to respond, as he was still thinking about the dream. _Pam..._


	5. Fast Forward One Year

**Fast Forward One Year**

* * *

_Apartment #207_

James watched in amusement as he saw his son try to walk multiple times, only to fall back down in frustration repeatedly.

"Ow!" he shouted.

"You'll get it soon," said James. "Don't worry, you're doing fine."

James had spent the whole day trying to get him to walk while Vixy was away taking a break from watching over Fox. He seemed to have taken a liking from the nickname Falco gave him, so that's what they were going to call him from now on. Not to mention it was now easier to differentiate between the two of them in a conversation.

"Foot," said Fox. James guessed he was trying to tell him that his foot was tired.

"Alright, we'll take a break," said James.

"Good," replied Fox.

He turned on the T.V. to see some soap opera playing.

"What that?" asked Fox.

"I dunno," replied James.

"Dumb."

"Yeah, I don't like it either. Look, you wanna watch something?" He handed the remote to Fox, who had no idea how to use it. "See these arrows? You press the arrows to change the channel, like this." He demonstrated, then let Fox try it.

"Cool," he said, flipping rapidly through the channels trying to find something. James sat down, watching as images flew by, accompanied by the cut off, distorted sounds of the changing channels.

"You hungry?" asked James.

"No," said Fox, shaking his head.

_That is one smart kid,_ thought James. Well, smart enough at least by his standards. Robert Toad is about four weeks younger, and he knows more words than the normal one year old, even words he wasn't supposed to know (his first word was "Damn"). But Fox's one – two word responses were good enough for James.

"I'm hungry," said James.

"Eat then."

"Alright, I will." He walked to the refrigerator and looked inside. Nothing there but some condiments, drinks, and spreads. He sighed and walked back to the couch, where Fox took his spot. "How did you get here?"

"Climbed," replied Fox.

"Who taught you how to climb?"

Fox shrugged and kept watching the T.V., changing the program every couple of seconds. He heard keys outside jiggling and the door unlocking.

"Mom?" asked Fox.

"Yep," said James, smiling as he saw Vixy walk in with a shit load of bags.

"Hello," said Fox.

"Hi there," said Vixy, putting down her bags to give her son a hug.

"What'd you do, buy the whole mall?" asked James.

Vixy looked at him sarcastically. "This is what happens when you give me a credit card and three hours of free time," she replied.

"Who'd you go with?"

"Samantha. Marcia would've gone with me, but she was tired."

"Who Marcia?" asked Fox.

"That's Falco's mother, Fox," answered Vixy.

"Okay." He got up and jumped from the couch, landing on his knees. He tried walking again, getting a few steps in before falling down repeatedly.

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

Pigma talked on his cell phone outside, faking a call to a "girl I'm seeing," when he's really talking to you know who.

"Nah, they haven't found anything yet," said Pigma. "No, it's been boring as shit here lately. It's like they're not even trying. I think you have nothing to worry about, they'll never find you at this rate. Where is everyone? Okay, I'll call again in two weeks." He hung up and went back inside.

James watched as Pepper marked the places they've searched.

"No signs on Papetoon," said Pepper. "I just got the news from our group there."

"Where else have we been?" asked James.

"We're looking into Fortuna right now. Bruce Brodie of Katina told me he has his planet on lookout as well." He sighed. "Two years since he was last seen. You know, Brodie said to me that the only instruction he ever gave them was to guard their planets. That was it. After that, they didn't see any of him. And now, I don't think even a percent of this city even knows what he looks like now."

"Edwards saw him face to face once," said James. "But he figured he must've changed his appearance since then."

"He is smart enough to do that," said Pepper. "I've been thinking. Remember Dr. Bowman?"

James shuddered. "Oh yeah, I definitely remember him. I was about eight when he was last seen."

"Yeah, we never found out what happened to him. But you know what I realized? The first time Andross showed himself on Channel 7 (wearing a mask, I remember), that was about right after we proclaimed Dr. Bowman dead. I've never really thought about that, but..."

James was silent. "What are you saying?"

Pepper scratched his cheek. "I dunno. It's a crazy idea, but... I dunno."

James looked over at Beltino, who was showing his son his computer. Robert looked bored out of his mind, but Beltino didn't seem to notice. It was as if Robert had already known everything his dad was telling him prior to this. After a while, Beltino picked his son up and set him on the ground to get him to walk. He kept slipping on the floor every five seconds trying to do so.

"Alright, come on slippy," said Beltino, smiling.

"Slippy?" asked Robert with a confused look on his face as his dad picked him up and carried him out the door.

* * *

_Macbeth_

Andross comfortably laid in the couch of Grant O'Donnell's home, sipping on a glass of whiskey. He was accompanied by two of his soldiers: Captains Michael Roy and Dennis Marth.

"So why can't he talk?" asked O'Donnell.

"He didn't even give us a clue," said Roy. "Prior to this, all he said was he was working on some new experiment on himself that'll take about three years. It's been one year already."

"On himself?"

Andross only nodded to this.

"Well, I guess after eighteen years of drug abuse, I guess two more years won't make any difference," said O'Donnell. "So how did they not find you guys in Papetoon?"

"They took us underground, where apparently nobody but planet officials could go," said Roy.

"So how did you get them to take you there?"

"You know Andross. Anyway, they hid us there until the Cornerians left. Andross had a separate room for himself, and in that time, he managed to get some experimentation done."

"So you have absolutely no idea about what he's actually doing to himself, eh?"

"Not a clue."

Andross smirked.

"But he did tell us to keep working on what we were doing before," said Marth.

"Oh, the whole pollution thing, right?"

"Yep. We're making a bomb – go figure – that'll basically rot away any environment within 24 square miles."

"You know, despite the fact that bombs are the only thing you actually make, you are creative, I must say," said O'Donnell. "Now look Andross, I knew in my mind that you would make up a story like that just to get people to go to war, and I played along. I knew how your mind works. I've been with you since your 'Dr. Bowman' days. Now you're not going to use this bomb against me, are you?"

Andross shook his head. And that wasn't a sarcastic shake or a shake that he was going to forget. He actually meant it.

"Thank you. For that, I'll supply you with anything. Just anything you need, I'll give it to you. So who are you going to use it against? I know Corneria's an obvious one, but who else?"

"Zoness is already pretty polluted, so there's no point to that," Roy said for Andross. "I'd say probably Katina, Titania, and we'll try Aquas as well. You know, he said this bomb could probably have some effect on animals as well."

"Like what?"

"He's not sure. Could be their behavior, their habits, even their physical appearance. It might turn a small, insignificant garden snake into a ravenous, carnivorous monster," said Marth.

O'Donnell scratched his eyelid, trying to take all of this in. "Wow. Do you think that's what he could be doing to himself?"

They all looked at Andross, who just shrugged and continued to drink his whiskey.

* * *

_Andross' Quarters_

Like in Papetoon, Andross was given his own quarters far underground. He emptied out his suitcase, which was filled with valves of liquid carefully packed in so they wouldn't break. Taking out a syringe, he opened one of the valves and sucked some of the liquid into the syringe. Waiting until it was completely full, he closed the valve, put it back into the suitcase, and stuck the syringe into his arm. He winced as he pushed the liquid into his veins. Making sure every drop of it was emptied out, he took the syringe out and dropped it to the floor.

His brain felt numb as the effects of the liquid started to take place. He couldn't control the drool coming out of his mouth; in fact, he couldn't control his mouth at all. The veins in his arms grew and his muscles started to ache. The acids in his stomach went berserk and his legs felt more like stumps. His eyes saw nothing but bright colors shining, blurring as the seconds went by. Then he suddenly went into a convulsion, his whole body wrenching and twisting like a doll in the hands of an excited three year old. He collapsed onto his bed, passing out.


	6. Long Time Friends  Yeah Right

"**Long Time Friends" (Yeah Right)**

* * *

_William Kup's Hideout_

"Look at this Kup," said Nice Guy Eddie. "We're making more money than we've ever had. This Bowman guy is a genius."

"I know," said Kup, grinning widely. "The man is insane."

"So I've heard. He allegedly burned down his school, right?"

"Not allegedly. He _did_ burn down his school. And ever since then, he's been hiding away," explained Kup.

"Why did he do it though?" asked Eddie.

"You really want to know why? He said he thought it would look cool," said Kup.

Eddie stared at him. "So you're telling me it was just some regular day, nobody has bothered him, he has absolutely nothing against school. Then all of a sudden, out of the fucking blue, he decides, 'Hey, I think I'll burn the whole fucking place down.'"

"That's exactly what it was."

_He's perfect for this job,_ Eddie thought to himself.

Kup saw Bowman climb down the ladder and greeted him. "Bowman! I'd like you to meet a long time friend of mine: Eddie."

"Or Nice Guy Eddie, if you want," replied Eddie.

"_Reservoir Dogs_?" asked Bowman, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, Kup was telling me all about you and you seem like the genius we need."

"I'm flattered."

"I've tried this stuff," he said, holding up the bag of powder Bowman had brought in previously, "and there's just no way to describe it. Nor is there any way to describe the response it's getting. You're becoming a household name, Bowman."

"So I'm assuming you want me to make more of that?" asked Bowman.

"If you give me the recipe, you won't have to," replied Eddie. "Say 500 for the recipe, and 40 of what I make from it."

Bowman paused for a minute, thinking about the deal he's been offered. "Make it 600."

"Fine then," said Eddie, and they shook hands. "Let me talk to you upstairs."

"Alright," said Bowman, who followed Eddie up the ladder. Eddie went over to the bar and ordered two drinks, which the bartender immediately gave.

"Now listen Bowman, I know you've only been in this thing for about two weeks, but I think you're just the guy I need for this."

"What?" asked Bowman, sipping his beer.

"We're going to kill William Kup."

Bowman set down his mug, staring at Eddie. "Alright then," he said nonchalantly.

Eddie laughed. "See? That's exactly why! You have absolutely no emotion, so you wouldn't care if I just told you to gun down your parents."

Bowman smiled. "You have no idea how true that statement is. So you and Kup have been long time friends. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"No, this isn't sudden at all. We've been planning this for a long time now."

"Who's we?"

"I'll introduce you to them later. So anyway, we think Kup is just not cut out for this job. He has all the power, but none of the smarts. The only reason he's at the top is because he has such a sharp tongue. But if you look at all the things he's done with this group, you'll find next to none. Not only that, but he's completely self indulgent. Do you see how many girls are all over him all the time?"

"I see. And I take it you can't simply fire the guy because he won't back down that easily, right?" asked Bowman.

"That and we just don't like him," said Eddie. "We want to show him how much we hate him and we want to inflict as much pain as we possibly can."

Bowman smiled again. "Alright, I'm in. So what is the plan?"

* * *

_Macbeth_

_The next day..._

Grant O'Donnell had arranged a meeting to discuss how their business was doing (although the real reason was hidden only from Kup). He watched in disgust as Kup was being groped by his whores in the meeting room.

"Kup, do you mind?" he said loudly over the moaning and groaning. Kup reluctantly sent the girls away.

Bowman watched Eddie at the other side of the table, waiting for the signal. Everybody in this room was ready to act.

"So, why are we out here in Macbeth?" asked Kup. "Couldn't we have arranged the meeting a little closer by where I was?"

"Sorry Kup, I'm just tired of the jet lag," said O'Donnell, staring Kup down.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He looked around and saw everyone was staring at him. "What's going on here?"

Eddie raised his hand, which held a dagger. Everyone leapt from their seats and charged at Kup, daggers in their hands. Kup screamed as he was stabbed multiple times. For the last thing he would ever do, he pulled his coat over his head as blood poured out of his wounds. He fell to the ground, having been stabbed 23 times.

"Why did he pull his coat over his head?" asked Sanford Powalski.

"I figure he didn't want anybody to see him die," replied O'Donnell. "Alright, you take him to Corneria. I don't want him here."

"So what did we fly all the way over here for?" asked Bowman.

"I said earlier. I'm tired of the jet lag."

* * *

_Corneria_

Bowman walked back into the bar, where Eddie and his associates were getting drunk out of their minds. He feigned a smile to share in their joy.

"Hehy, Bahmahn," slurred Eddie. "Iz da bhody dishphoshed ovv?"

"Yes, it is Eddie," replied Bowman. "I hid him in the abandoned farm five blocks from here, just as you said."

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooood," said Eddie, who passed out onto the floor.

* * *

_Macbeth_

Andross awoke from his dream. He tried to remember what had happened, but the throbbing pain in his head made it hard to do so. Rolling off of his bed, he groaned as his body hit the floor. He paused, realizing his throat had made a sound. He tried to speak, but he could only get a couple of grunts and other sounds out. Remembering the potion he took last night, he inspected his body for any changes. And boy, were there changes. His arms had become noticeably hairier and larger. He felt his face, which had a larger beard than before (which was quite something, given his Santa Claus – like appearance). As he stood up, he felt a little taller. That potion worked like a charm, he thought.

He walked out of his room and climbed up the stairs to the Macbethian Base up top, to which he garnered some stares from the people nearby. Roy and Marth looked at him in amazement and confusedness.

"Uh, sir?" asked Marth. "What the hell happened?"

Andross grunted at him.

"This is from that experimentation, right?" asked Roy.

Andross grunted again.

"Wow... that's pretty... well, I have to be honest sir. You look fucked up beyond all recognition," said Marth.

Andross... you know. O'Donnell walked into the room, gaping at the sight that stood before him.

"I'm not going to ask," he said. "So can you talk now?"

"No, he can't," said Roy.

"Alright. So what now, Andross? Got anything planned?"

Andross walked over to a printer and took out a sheet of paper. He motioned for a pen, to which Marth obliged. O'Donnell waited as he wrote down some sort of plan. After about a minute, he handed the paper to him. He looked over the sheet, reading over the words in disbelief. "Andross, I have never said this to you, but are you fucking insane?"

Andross just grinned at him.

"But Andross, you know we just got out of war two years ago, right?"

Andross took the sheet back from O'Donnell and wrote a couple of more sentences on it. O'Donnell took it back and read it, still in disbelief.

"Sheesh, you really need to find another source of entertainment for yourself, Oikonny. Alright, so when are you doing this?"

Andross took the paper and wrote _One week_ onto it.

O'Donnell nodded when he read it.

* * *

_Corneria_

_One week later..._

"Sir! Switch on the view screen now!" shouted Toad, running into the computer room.

"What's going on, Beltino?" asked Pepper.

"I'm getting a signal from Katina! They say they're being attacked!"

"What? By who?"

"They don't know!"

Pepper ordered one of the operators to switch on the view screen. James ran into the room to see what was going on. Bruce Brodie appeared on the screen, sweating up a storm.

"What's going on Brodie?" asked Pepper.

"Pepper, I don't know what happened! They just appeared out of nowhere! There's no symbol on their uniforms or anything!"

"Brodie, I'll send a unit over there to help you out!" said Pepper frantically but calmly. "You just stay put!"

"Hurry!" screamed Brodie, whose image faded out.

"Captain McCloud!" shouted Pepper. James ran up to him, standing straight and saluting him. Pepper was a good friend of his, but he was still higher authority.

"At ease. McCloud, assemble a squad and fly them over to Katina right now," ordered Pepper.

"Yes sir!" said James, who saluted him again, which Pepper returned.

"And James, you can take the Arwings if you want."

James nodded, and he ran out of the Naval Base to the Training Center, which was a block away. He barged in, not bothering to return the salutes of the younger soldiers nearby.

"Everybody stop what you're doing!" shouted James, to which they obliged. "Listen up! Katina is being attacked right now by an unknown enemy. I need everyone to get equipped right now and to report to the Great Fox. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," everyone responded.

"Good. Get to it." James found Peppy near the other end of the room, making his way through the crowd of soldiers trying to get to their footlockers. "Peppy, get ROB to set up the Transport now," he ordered him.

"Right."

"Where's Pigma?" James added.

"I have no idea. I haven't seen him all day."

James nodded and he followed his soldiers into the locker room, where everybody was gearing up. He sighed, thinking _Here we go again..._ He took out his cell phone and dialed his home phone number. After two rings, Vixy picked up the phone.

"_Hello?"_

"Yeah Vixy... just calling to let you know that you might not see me in a while..." James said painfully.

"_What? What do you mean?"_

"We just got news that Katina is being attacked."

"_By who?"_

"We don't know... But Pepper ordered me to go up there and defend them."

"_Oh..."_ She was silent for a little while. "_Fox is going to miss you a lot."_

"Yeah... Let him know I love him, alright? And I love you."

"_Love you too..."_ And she hung up.


	7. Back Into Battle

**Back Into Battle**

* * *

_Transport (Great Fox)_

James had named this ship the Great Fox after the war had ended. This was the same transport that had carried the 2nd Ranger Battalion and it had been out of action since the battalion had been deactivated. Thinking the ship would no longer be used, James had ROB paint the word "Star Fox" onto the sides of the ship, along with a red fox on the top wing that James had designed himself, as sort of a tribute to the now defunct battalion and to Major Edwards. But now, here it is, carrying a new Star Fox, the name which James had dubbed A Company also. Most, if not all of these soldiers were old A Company soldiers, so it is fitting in a way.

Of course there are a lot more of them now (a company usually has 75 – 200 soldiers, this one having 156 exactly, as opposed to the 30 in the Lylat War). But James was no longer scared of commanding a large group anymore. He was still a bit unsure of himself, but he was definitely a more confident soldier than in the last story.

"Now who's going in the Arwings?" asked Peppy.

"I think Monroe is a good pilot. Also Smith and White," suggested James.

"Plant and Hopkins also. And I guess Daltrey."

"Nah, Daltrey's a better infantryman than a pilot. We need him on the ground."

"Alright, then how about Graham?"

The soldiers looked as James and Peppy discussed who would fly the Arwings.

"Can't believe this is happening again," said Monroe.

"Who called it?" exclaimed Plant. "This is definitely Andross' doing."

"Obviously. Did you hear? No symbol or any sort of sign of what planet they're from," said Moon.

"That means no war... but we're still fighting," said Bonham. "Tough rocks."

James and Peppy called the attention of the soldiers, all of them saluting the both of them.

"At ease," said James. "We have picked eleven soldiers from this company to fly the Arwings over to Katina to fend off any enemy targets in the atmosphere. Lt. Hare will lead these eleven, which he will cite now. If your name is called, immediately bend down, tuck your head between your arm and your hip, and kiss your ass good bye."

The company chuckled at this joke while James kept himself from smiling.

"Lt. Plant," said Peppy. Plant stepped forward. The next names he called out were Monroe, Smith, White, Hopkins,Ward, Young, Cook, Taylor, Entwistle, and Moon.

"The rest of you will be split into two groups," said James. "I will lead one group and Lt. Daltrey will lead the other. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," said the company.

"Good. ROB, when are we reaching Katina?" he asked.

"_In about ten minutes, sir,"_ replied ROB.

"Alright. Pilots, get to it!" he ordered. Peppy made his way through the crowd and led the eleven pilots to the hangar bay. James stopped Monroe to give this message: "I don't want your daughter to grow up fatherless." Monroe nodded to him and continued on.

James led Daltrey out of the crowd to discuss their routes and their objectives. They had a list of the 156 soldiers (before James had crossed out the 12 pilots, leaving 144) and basically split it down the middle. After this, Daltrey split his team of 72 soldiers into three platoons, with James doing the same. They assigned Lt.'s to all six platoons of 24 soldiers. You with me so far?

They then informed the soldiers of the platoons they were in. James had 1st, 2nd and 3rd Platoon and Daltrey had the other three. Finally, they assigned four Lt.'s to four platoons (James had 1st Platoon and Daltrey had 4th Platoon). When this was all said and done, James told them, "At ease," and the soldiers happily obliged. He sat down on one of the chairs, sighing as the soldiers started to converse. _Things were a lot easier with thirty guys..._

* * *

_Katina_

Great Fox rocketed through the atmosphere, followed by the Arwings... and a shitload of enemies. Just as in the Lylat Wars, the enemies had almost the entire planet surrounded. The Katinian Air Force was doing its best, which wasn't enough. James prayed for the pilots outside, fending off the fire. "ROB, how much longer?" he shouted over the noise.

"_Two minutes until touchdown,"_ said ROB in the most nonchalant way possible

"Star Fox, get ready!" James shouted as the Great Fox reached the ground. It slowed to a stop in midair and descended to the surface.

"_Ready sir,"_ said ROB.

"Alright, move out!" James ordered, and the A Company soldiers scurried out of the ship as if they all had to piss and the only restroom in the vicinity was outside. Everybody couldn't help but look at the carnage before them. It was hard to describe the massive destruction that this unknown enemy had inflicted onto this area, so I'm not even going to try.

James took out his PDA (modified to send video messages now) and called up the Naval Base. Immediately, Pepper's face showed up on the monitor.

"_McCloud, what's your status?"_

"We've just touched down. "No sign of activity here; it seems like they've already wiped out this part of the town."

"_How are the numbers looking?"_ asked Pepper.

"I'm thinking somewhere very similar to the invasion at Corneria, sir. The entire planet's atmosphere is surrounded, and my PDA is showing very heavy movement on the surface."

"_Alright, McCloud. I'm sending the Air Force over there now."_

"Yes sir." He shut off his PDA and slipped it back into his pocket. "Alright Lt., move out," James ordered. Daltrey nodded and headed out on his route, calling his team to follow them. James did the same and called the two Lt.'s he assigned to 2nd and 3rd Platoon (Gilmore and Page respectively). He gave them their routes and objectives, which they acknowledged, and he sent them off. James told his platoon to stay put while he radioed in to see how the Arwings were doing. His PDA rang about four times until Peppy picked up.

"_We're doing fine James, no problems yet,"_ Peppy reported. "_Ward's Arwing is a little chipped, but other than that we're perfect." _

"Where are you now?" James asked.

"_We're circling the atmosphere, waiting for the Air Force to come up. I'd forgotten how quiet these things are. I'll radio in if we get into trouble."_

"Right." He hung up and led his platoon on their route. They made their way through the marred city streets. Most of the buildings in the area were completely demolished and the debris and rubble made it somewhat difficult to walk. Loud crunching noises accompanied their footsteps as they followed their path.

"Cornerians?" James turned around to see who had just said that. A Katinian soldier and his company came out of their cover to greet them. "We were waiting for you to come."

"Yeah, you seem to be in a heap of shit right now," said James.

"Yep. Who are you?"

"Captain James McCloud. This is 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 1st Platoon of A Company. You?"

"Sergeant Alistair Spears, sir. E Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. Our CEO was Captain Lennon, sir."

"I see. How many men do you have?" asked James.

"We're a mess, only thirty two guys left. But honestly sir, I should be the one asking you that."

James smiled weakly. "Right. Our Air Force is coming soon to take care of those guys above us. We were sent here to see how bad the damage was."

"So it's just you guys?"

"Us and five other platoons in A Company. Or 'Star Fox,' if you'd like."

"Alright. I'll get in contact with Brodie," said Spears.

"You do that. I gotta get in touch with Pepper." He took out his PDA and dialed. Pepper appeared on the screen almost immediately after the signal had been sent.

"_McCloud?"_

"Yes sir. We've just come into contact with a Katinian Company. E Company, 1st Battalion... 4th Infantry Regiment, right?" James asked Spears, who nodded in reply as he looked down at his own PDA.

"_Okay, McCloud. Stay with them. Air Force has told me they have arrived." _Pepper's image disappeared. James looked up, and sure enough he saw an influx of ships clouding up the sky.

"That takes care of the air," said Spears. "Brodie told me there's still a large number of troops on the planet right now. What's your walkie talkie channel?"

"Channel 37," replied James. "Alright, so we're heading off to-"

His sentence was cut off by a loud blast. Everybody ducked behind cover as a group of enemies nowhere in sight fired madly at them. James, ducking behind a crumbled wall, peaked to his left and quickly fired his rifle, glancing at where they might be. He saw maybe about fifty of them, but there were bound to be more of them. Jeez, where did they all come from? They weren't there a second ago.

He looked around behind him and found all of his platoon right beside him. Over on the other side were Spears and E Company, all of whom had very little cover. One of them took a shot directly in the head. "We've gotta get out of here!" James shouted over the laser fire. "This place is going to be overrun soon! I saw about fifty of them over on the north side!"

"Fifty?" exclaimed Bonham.

"How are we going to get out of here, sir?" asked Barrett.

"I have absolutely no idea," said James. "You think you can find a spot to knock off some of these guys?"

"I'll try, sir!" he replied.

James nodded. He tried peaking to the left again, before a laser fired and broke off some of the brick nearby him. He put his back up against the wall and spent a couple of seconds rubbing out the debris in his eye. "Alright, you seven," he said, pointing to the first seven soldiers he saw. "You're Alpha squadron! You guys, you're Bravo! The rest of you, you're Charlie! Alpha, you come with me! Bravo, you find a location where Barrett can see! Charlie, you cover them! Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" the platoon shouted.

"Alright, move out! Radio in regularly!" James took Alpha squadron over to the other wall nearby, staying low to the ground. One soldier peaked out of the side, almost getting hit by a laser before James pulled him back. They continued on to the next building, which was one of the few that didn't collapse. James found a door and slowly pushed it open. You never know when there would be a whole pack of enemies on the other side. He heard a painful scream from afar; he hoped it didn't come from one of his soldiers.

"_Bravo, man down!"_ his walkie talkie wailed. _Shit,_ thought James as he looked through the opening and slid the nozzle of his rifle through. He fired off a couple of warning shots before pushing the door wide open. He entered slowly into the room, which was a furniture storage of some sort. Old couches, tables, chairs and whatnot cluttered the dark room. The only light shone through the blinds of the windows, which were bent and tangled. He called for his squadron to come in and he ordered them to back up against the wall, staying out of view of the windows. Pushing some of the blinds out of the way, he peaked out of the window, which was cracked and distorted, but didn't stop him from seeing what was arriving in the city.

"They have fucking tanks," James whispered. The squadron murmured in fear. "Hold on, I'll call the Arwings, see what they can do." He took out his PDA and called up Peppy's Arwing.

"_James?"_ replied Peppy. "_What's going on?"_

"Peppy, we're in a heap of shit right now. We have three tanks coming into the city and we have absolutely nothing with us," said James.

"_Okay, I'll be there. Where are you?"_

"Uh..." He took out his walkie talkie and said, "Spears, what city are we in?"

"_This is Hirasawa, sir!"_ Spears replied, his voice distorted from all the laser blasts coming through.

"_What was that?"_ asked Peppy.

"Hirasawa, Peppy," said James.

"_Alright, we're on our way!"_

James shut off his PDA and took out his walkie talkie again. "Spears, do you see what I'm seeing?"

"_Yes sir, I am. What the hell are we gonna do?"_

"We're going to stay out of sight and cover ourselves until the Arwings take care of the tanks."

"_Arwings?"_

"You'll see," he said, as the groaning engine of the tanks grew louder and louder every second.


	8. Letters

**Letters**

* * *

_Corneria_

Vixy sighed as she watched Fox try to chase Falco around, while Robert sat in the sandbar, ignoring them and trying to make a building of some sort. She offered to babysit them for a while but she wasn't feeling up to it. The whole time they were there, she thought about what James was doing up in Katina. She knew James needed to do whatever was called for him to do, but she hated it. It always ate her up inside whenever he had to leave. The difference now is that she didn't know when (or if) he was going to come back. Usually, it was a week, and most of the time his mission was just some escort mission of some sort. But now he's up in Katina, in an actual battle. James had no idea how much Vixy admired him for his strength. He always looked down on himself, but he shouldn't. She thought he was the strongest fox she's ever met.

"Mom?"

She snapped out of her thought to see Fox looking up at her. "Yes dear?"

"Anything to drink?" he asked.

"Oh... here." She handed him his bottle of water without much thought.

"You miss Dad?"

Vixy looked down at him, surprised. "Yes. I miss your Dad very much."

"Me too," said Fox, who patted her on the leg. Vixy smiled and showed her appreciation by giving him a kiss on the top of the head. He ran off to go play with Falco again. She looked at her son with the same admiration and love she had for her husband. She knew he was going to be special. She could already imagine what great accomplishments he could achieve. And she, along with James, was going to support him through it all.

"Alright," she called out. "Let's go!"

Fox ran up to her while Falco grabbed Robert, who still had some trouble walking. He slipped repeatedly onto the ground while Falco tried to hold onto him. "Slippy," muttered Falco.

Robert looked at him strangely. "How come I keep hearing that?"

* * *

_Katina_

James looked in horror as one of the tanks started to shoot at any possible thing that could be used for cover. Staying here wasn't a good idea, so he ordered everyone to get out of the building. He winced every time an explosion was heard. "Bravo!" he shouted in his walkie talkie. "What's your status?"

"_Bravo reporting, sir! We have one soldier dead and two injured. Barrett is doing the best he can!"_

"Who are the casualties?"

"_Pvt. Hauser is dead, and Pvt. Dawson and Pvt. Nichols are both injured, sir!"_

"Can they walk?"

"_Yes, they both can, sir!"_

"_Alright, Bravo. Leave Pvt. Hauser there,"_ he said regretfully . "_Get out of there and find better cover. Tell Barrett he's done all he could do."  
_  
"_Yes sir,"_ said Bravo.

"Charlie? What's your status?"

"_We're fine, sir. No casualties so far,"_ replied Charlie.

"Right. Do the same, find better cover. Those tanks are going ape shit with those rockets."

"_Yes sir."_

James turned off his walkie talkie. "Let's go," he told Alpha, and they all followed after him, keeping low to the ground. The lasers didn't stop firing and the tanks sounded as if they were moving in closer. _Where are __you, Peppy?_

He saw a clear view of some of the troopers running in, thinking the area was clear. He took the shots, taking down some of them. The squadron followed suit, taking down multiple enemies at a time. James gave the hand signal to cease fire, which they did, and they ran off behind the next building. Another rocket fired, completely destroying one of the buildings near their position. They all ducked down to avoid the dust and debris that spread into the area. "Report in!" James shouted into his walkie talkie.

"_Bravo Squadron is fine, sir!" _a voice replied.

"_Charlie Squadron, no problems sir!"_

James sighed in relief. "Spears, how are you doing?"

No response.

"Spears?"

"_Uh, Cpt. McCloud?"_ said a voice.

"Who is this?"

"_This is Pvt. Reagan. Spears is dead."_

_Fuck, _James thought to himself. "How's your company doing?"

"_We have three injuries, two of which can't move, sir. This looks bad, sir,"_ said Reagan.

"You're telling me," replied James. "There's absolutely nothing we can do for now. We just need to find more cover. Move farther away from the tanks and deeper into the city. Go into the sewers if you need to. No use staying up here."

"_Yes sir," _said Reagan.

"Bravo, Charlie, let's get out of here." He stowed away his walkie talkie and he led Alpha as far away from the tanks as they possibly could. They took cover in the alleys and behind buildings, where they encountered several troops of soldiers. They were disposed of easily. He heard enemy shouts from afar; they're following them. James told Alpha to run for it and they did so. They took quick looks behind to see if anybody was behind them. They kept running until an explosion had stopped them in their tracks.

James was sent flying into a brick wall from the blast. He could hear and feel little bits of concrete and rock pelt him while his head felt as if it was about to split open. Moans of pain and agony echoed into his ears. The last thing he saw before passing out was a soldier on the ground, trying to crawl toward his own dismembered leg on the ground.

_Three hours later..._

"Jimmy? Oh, he's fine. Jimmy! Wake up!"

James opened up his eyes to see Peppy looking down on him. He looked around and saw that he was still in the city. Over to the left were the tanks, which were completely massacred by the Arwings. The first thing that came out of his mouth was, "How many casualties?"

Peppy sighed. "Six dead and four injured, including you.

James was blank. "Who?"

"There's Hauser, Porter, Gibson, and Leary from your group. Then there's Spears and Paulson from E Company. The injured are you, Jackson, George, and Scott. Jackson lost his leg and he has to go home."

James closed his eyes for a minute. This was the first time he's ever lost one of his soldiers, let alone six. Two of them weren't even his. But he was the higher rank, and he still felt responsible. He opened his eyes again and tried to get up.

"Um, you sure you wanna do that?"

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." He pulled himself up onto his feet and walked around a bit to shake off the drowsiness.

"I should've gotten here earlier," said Peppy solemnly.

"That's okay. I'm just glad you got here at all. How are the pilots?"

"They're fine. You know, you have to write the letters."

"What?"

"You know. To those families."

"Oh... yeah, I know." The Great Fox was docked in the center. 1st Platoon boarded onto the ship after the pilots docked the Arwings in the docking bay. James pulled out his PDA. "2nd and 3rd Platoon, report in."

"_This is 2nd_ _Platoon. Nothing here so far."_

"_3rd_ _Platoon. Same as 2nd_ _Platoon."_

"Okay. Mark your positions on the map. We're coming to get you." He then contacted Daltrey. "Lt. Daltrey?"

"_Yes sir?" _

"Round up your platoons. We'll be there in a moment."

"_Yes sir."_

He slipped his PDA into his pocket. "What now?" asked James.

"Pepper informed us to meet with Brodie. He's in hiding so that these guys won't get to him," said Peppy.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know. But we have some members of the Katinian Air Force outside right now leading us to him."

"That's a little risky," said James.

"That's what I told them. But they said they'll be okay."

James nodded. "I'm going to go rest for a bit," he said.

"Alright. You need it badly," said Peppy.

He was about to walk away when another question hit him. "Has Pigma contacted back yet?"

"Nope," said Peppy. "I still have absolutely no idea where he is."

* * *

_Captain's Quarters_

Since he was Captain, he rightfully took the captain's quarters all to himself. This was the same room that Major Edwards had taken (even though it was a _captain's_ quarters, but whatever). He felt bad, having this comfy space while the other lower rank soldiers slept in a tight room and on uncomfortable cots. He shook his head, getting his mind focused on his typewriter in front of him. He was typing out the letters to his fallen soldiers' families, explaining why their sons won't be coming home ever again. To get things started, he typed in the letter headings, addressing himself and the company they were in. Then came the ugly part.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hauser,

It gives me great sadness to bring you the news that your son, Private Johnathon Hauser, has been killed in action during the fight to protect Katina from these unknown invaders. I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am that this had to happen. But no amount of words will ever heal the pain and sorrow you must be feeling. But I want you to know that Johnathon was an extremely skilled and confident soldier and had done his duty bravely. The Cornerian Army is very proud of what your son has done for us and I hope that your entire family will recover from this terrible loss you have suffered.

Captain James F. McCloud, A Company, 12th Infantry Division.

No use in giving the details about his death. They were going to get that report along with the Purple Heart Hauser was going to get. He read over the letter, realizing that he had never known Pvt. Hauser. Sure, they exchanged a few words whenever James had to grade him. But other than that, James knew nothing about him except for stats. The sentence that says that Hauser was an extremely skilled and confident soldier was true. His marksman scores were very top-notch, and all around he seemed to have a great passion for the army. But James didn't know whether he had any brothers or sisters. He didn't know what made him tick or what his favorite color was. Only numbers and grades.

This thought prompted James to walk outside of his room into the living area, where a small section of the soldiers were conversing among themselves. The rest were in different areas of the ship (maybe the sleeping quarters, the dining hall, etc.) The first few hours they were on this ship, the whole mood was somber and a little depressing from the losses they suffered. Now, it seemed as though the mood had lightened up and the soldiers had decided to move on and not dwell on the deaths of their fellow comrades. All of the soldiers in this particular group, he recognized from the Lylat War. It was amazing how all thirty of these guys have managed to stay alive. These were also the soldiers he'd consider the best out of all of the company. The others were fine soldiers and they do the job well, but these guys were Ranger material to him. Not to mention that these are the only ones he could actually talk to.

"Hey Captain!" shouted Page. "You think it would be possible to send a guitar over here? I'm going insane without one!"

"I dunno," replied James. "I'll check with Colonel Banks."

"Ah, Banks won't let it happen. He barely lets us get packages," said Townsend.

"Well, I'm outta luck then," said Moon. "I was expecting a whole box of magazines."

"What magazines?" asked Bonham.

"Well... you know..."

Bonham smiled. "You want to share some of that with me?"

"Nah, it's all mine, Bonzo! That is, if I actually get them."

James smiled. "Moonie, the last thing we all want is you jerking off in the middle of the night."

The soldiers laughed. "Hey, we have bathrooms!" argued Moon, grinning. "I'll keep it quiet, sir!"

"Whatever," said James, chuckling softly. He wanted to burst out laughing, but that wouldn't look good for a captain, now would it?


	9. Out Of Fuel, Out Of Air, Out Of His Mind

**Out Of Fuel, Out Of Air, Out Of His Mind**

* * *

_Wally's Wonderful Wacky Watches_

What a name for a watch store, huh? Being the smallest and most unsuccessful business in watches specifically because of this name, Brodie had decided to hide out here. The Great Fox had landed a mile away from the area to avoid any suspicion, so the group James chose to meet with Brodie had to walk on foot. He only chose a small number, which included Bonham, Monroe, Page, and Jones only. No use taking the entire company.

It took them about 20 minutes to get to the store, which was quite a sight. The windows were broken in and the cheap tin sign was on its hinges. Inside, they could see there was no light at all, but they could see the lights in the ceiling hanging out by their wires. This place was a complete wreak. Although, honestly, it probably didn't look any better before the invasion. James opened the door, making it fall onto the floor and shattering the glass.

"I'd love to work at this place," said Bonham.

"Who's out there?" asked a voice.

"This is A Company, 12th Infantry," James called out. "Cornerian Army. Compliments of General Pepper."

Brodie emerged from the darkness and turned the lights on. Now it was more of a spectacular mess. Broken watches, dust, and glass littered the floors. Not to mention the happy tie–dye color scheme the walls had. "Ah, you're finally here."

"Nice place you have here," said James.

"Yeah, well. It's obscure enough for the enemies not to notice it," said Brodie.

"What did you call us here for?" asked James.

"I can't seem to contact General Pepper," he explained. "The signal won't go through."

"Let me see." James pulled out his PDA and tried to contact Pepper. It took about a few minutes before the signal completely shut out. "That's weird." He then contacted the Great Fox.

"_What is it?"_ asked Peppy.

"Can you try calling Corneria? Brodie and I can't get the signal out."

They waited for a response. "_It won't let me,"_ said Peppy.

James scratched his head in confusion. "I can contact the Great Fox fine, but I can't get to Corneria. It was working fine before."

"The satellite must be out of commission," said Brodie. "They must've taken it out."

"That means ROB can't contact them either," said James. "Look sir, I'll keep the Air Force and my company here and fly back. I need to know my orders."

"Alright," said Brodie. "I think we'll manage. Most of the enemies are starting to retreat anyway."

James nodded. "Let's go," he said to his group. They backtracked their way to the Great Fox and entered.

"So?" asked Peppy.

"I'm putting you in charge of the company for a while. I'm flying back to Corneria for our orders. Unless you've gotten in contact..."

"Nah, we can't. Satellite's dead, we're sitting ducks."

"Alright, then I'll be on my way." He radioed ROB to get Arwing #7 ready for takeoff.

"You sure you don't need backup?" asked Peppy.

"I'll be fine," insisted James.

* * *

_Atmosphere of Katina_

James spent a couple of his lasers knocking down some of the enemy ships in his way. He was careful not to hit the Cornerian ships by mistake, although it was difficult to tell whether he had or not. But most of the time, he tried to avoid any areas where there was heavy fire. As he made his way to the outside, he felt a shudder in the ship and could smell a little smoke. He was hit in the engine, but it wasn't bad at all. The status bar on the dashboard told him the ship was fine. He continued on.

"_Where are you going, sir?" _asked one of the Air Force pilots on the radio.

"I'm heading back to Corneria to get in contact with Pepper," said James. "The satellite's been knocked out."

"_Yes sir. Be careful, sir," _said the pilot.

James kept on flying out of the atmosphere, where he could (and feel) the ship burning up as it descended. He wasn't worried about that. Beltino had said to him, "This baby can take temperatures up 9000 degrees." How he could create a ship like this, he had no idea. He couldn't imagine flying any other ship.

_30 minutes later..._

Only half an hour, and I'm already starting to get bored. You know, maybe I should have brought along backup–just for somebody to talk to. I can't fall asleep because I need to follow this path. The ship is the best I've ever flown, but the navigation leaves a lot to be desired. I need to follow it precisely or else it'll lose the path. The Great Fox's navigation is better, but the company needs that one. What am I going to do for the next four hours I'm on this ship?

Wait, what is that? Status bar was green just a few minutes ago. How come it's flashing red? I don't see any problems with the ship.

Oh shit. Now I do. The fuel is leaking like a wet diaper. Must've been from that hit I took back there. Damn, I should have gone back. Sigh, it's too late now. I can't risk going back into that battle with just this much gas. Then again, I'd rather not be stuck out here.

Maybe there's extra fuel back here. Where is it? I need to clean this place up. I should have gotten extra fuel. Well shit, there's a bunch of stuff I should have done. Backup, fuel, etc. How could I have been so careless?

Fuel's completely empty. I can't believe this. What the fuck am I going to do now? I'm stuck out here, floating in space, and I have absolutely no idea where I am. Well, I guess I just have to wait here...

_Two hours later..._

I tried sleeping, but I kept waking up every ten minutes. This space is so tight, I can't stand it for any longer. Not only that, but now I'm starting to breathe in my own carbon dioxide. I didn't even think about air. At that point, I started to panic. My breathing became heavier and faster. Oh my God, get me out of here! I pounded on the windshield, not caring if I was about to break it. I needed to get out! I needed to get back to Corneria! To my wife and son!

When the thought of them came to my head, I collapsed back to my seat. Am I never going to see them again? The last thing I said to Vixy was over the phone. It didn't matter that I said, "I love you." It needed to be in person. And Fox... I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. I've always wanted to take care of him like my dad. Sigh, my dad... I barely knew him, but I have all of these memories with him. I could've been like him. I could've been a scientist and stayed out of the army if my mom had not died. I would've stayed in school and go through college.

But then I would never have met Vixy. If I had went into my dad's field of work, I would never have worked under Chief Reinard and I would never have gotten the job to watch over her while Jim was away. Strange how things worked. Still, I just had to lose my parents, didn't I? Thank God for Peppy's father. He found me hiding in the alley and he took me in. Peppy was like a brother to me. No, that's wrong. He _is_ my brother.

I could still remember the first time I saw Vixy for the first time. It was at a fucking McDonald's, but it was still such a moment. I remembered I felt a strong sense of jealously whenever I saw Jim with her. I don't feel that anymore. Jim Edwards was a better fox than I could ever be. He was good to all of the soldiers and was such a great leader. He would never have gotten himself in this position. I'm not half the leader he is. He would've brought along backup or extra fuel.

_Four hours later..._

My throat felt dry, and it didn't help that I was getting choked up from all of this. My head was starting to get light, but all of these memories are still running through my head. Not long before I lose consciousness. It's so goddamn hot in here. How long have I been here anyway? I don't care anymore. What a way to go out, huh? I'm going to rot in this ship alone. I can't imagine any way I can get out of this situation. It's hopeless.

This reminds me of that time I was captured. Boy, wasn't that a fun time. Only difference is I could breathe then. Here, I'm out in space and the only source of oxygen was a tank inside the ship. Well, that's starting to run dangerously low. I looked around outside and saw the same sight I saw hours before: blackness and stars. And I'm inside this hunk of metal, drifting away into nothingness...

* * *

_Corneria_

"Okay, let's get him out of there!" shouted Pepper, watching as the technicians started to pry open the Arwing. They pulled out James' unconscious body, completely drenched in sweat, and carried him onto a stretcher. "Where did they find him?"

"Beltino detected an object that looked like an Arwing nearby the satellite (they were trying to repair it). Sure enough, it was an Arwing and they tethered it and dragged it here."

"Come on, let's get him to the hospital." He followed the doctors carrying him on the stretcher. "Is he going to be alright?"

"He has a slight pulse. There was absolutely no oxygen in that ship, but he should be fine now out here. He'll start breathing again in a little bit," said the doctor.

"How long do you think he was in there?" asked Pepper.

"From the ship's log, it said ten hours since the last takeoff."

He sighed. "Okay, let's go," he said, climbing into the medical transport. It took off of the landing strip. "Call somebody to take his Arwing back to Beltino. And call his family to come up to the hospital," he ordered.

_Two hours later..._

James slowly regained his conscious, feeling cold air blowing into his mouth and nose. It was the most relieving feeling he had ever felt. He opened his eyes slightly and tried to smile as he saw Vixy looking down at him, beaming. "Get this thing off me," he muffled.

One of the nurses obliged and took off the oxygen mask. He sat up and reached out to hug his wife. An energetic little fox hopped up onto the bed and hugged him as well. James' eyes welled up. He looked up and saw General Pepper walk into the room. His family let go of their grip to let him talk.

"For being stranded inside a ship for ten hours with no air, you seem to be in pretty good shape," said Pepper. "What happened?"

"I needed to get in contact with you," said James. He suddenly remembered his company back on Katina. "Did they get the satellite back up?"

"Yeah, just now. Everything in Katina has been sorted out and your company is coming back."

James nodded.

"I'll let you rest for a bit," he said, smiling and leaving the room.

Vixy laid her head on his shoulder. "You've just been through it all, haven't you?"

James sighed. "And somehow, I've managed to survive."

Vixy smiled at him.

"Dad's invincible," piped up Fox.

"Yes he is," agreed Vixy. James grinned. That comment made by his son right there was the nicest thing anybody has ever said about him.

_An hour later..._

James and Pepper hitched a ride on the vehicle transport, which was taking Arwing #7 back to the base. James could've just flown it back there, but the second he went into that cockpit, he became terrified. He didn't know what it was, but it was like he was back up there in space, when he went batshit crazy inside the cockpit. He couldn't breathe and he started sweating as if he were in a sauna. The doctors had to drag him out because he was completely stiff. Pepper had asked what was wrong, but he knew. James had become claustrophobic.

There was no way that he could fly that thing now. Also, claustrophobia can seriously hamper a soldier's ability in the field. To keep him in the army (and from being out of work), Pepper offered James a position high up.

"You'll be in control of the 12th Infantry Regiment, along with Colonel Banks," said Pepper. "I'm promoting you to Major. You won't have to go out and do all of the dirty work."

James' expression was blank. "So I'm losing A Company?"

Pepper didn't know what to say to this. He knew A Company was close to James, but he just couldn't have him out there when he could barely kept his sanity.

"James, you're not 'losing' them. Besides, they'll be in good hands, I promise you."

"So who?"

"What?"

"Who's going to be commanding them?"

He paused for a minute. Only Colonel Banks decided who was leading who in his regiment, and Pepper respected that authority. However, he knew who Banks was going to choose: Captain Reynolds. He had just joined up with 12th Infantry and Banks had been trying to find a spot for him for quite some time. He was a good man and an extremely good friend of Banks, but he's notorious among others in being a very strict military man and (in his own words) an absolute asshat. He would put non–commissioned officers (and even commissioned officers) through some of the most grueling training imaginable. Not only that, but his navigation skills were (now he's being brutally honest) equal to a bowl of cowpie. He couldn't find his way through a grocery store if he tried.

"Banks will pick somebody good," Pepper lied. "You'll see."


	10. New Captain and What Could've Been

**New Captain**

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

While Pepper was settling with Brodie on how to clean up Katina, James went to break the news to his company. They didn't respond well to James having to leave, especially after hearing who was replacing him. Still, they understood why he had to do so and they didn't bother him about it. Hell, they could see James sweating just from being inside the Great Fox.

"So... I'm sorry I have to leave you, but I'm sure that Captain Reynolds will make a great... okay, I take that back. He'll be a shitty leader."

They laughed at that statement. "No argument there, sir," said Moon.

James smiled. "But I just wanted you guys to know that I'm proud of all of you. You've all done your jobs well, and I just hope that, no matter what circumstance Reynolds puts you through, you can keep that up as well as you can."

"You've treated us well, sir," said Monroe.

He nodded towards him. Damn, it ate him up inside that he had to give these guys up to a leader like Reynolds, but he had no choice. "So Reynolds will be your supervisor now at the training center. Whatever he puts you through, just try to make the best of it."

* * *

_Training Center #3_

Captain Reynolds walked out to the crowd of soldiers, who were ordered by Peppy and Pigma (who, in turn, were ordered by Reynolds) to get into formation outside the center.

"So where were you this whole time?" Peppy whispered to Pigma.

"I asked for a day off that day. Didn't know all of this was happening."

"So you didn't hear about James?"

"Not until I got here."

Reynolds looked at the soldiers with disgust. "Lt. Hare?" Peppy ran up to him and saluted him. "What sort of company is this?"

Peppy took a look at them. He tried not to laugh at Reynold's helium–induced voice. "What am I supposed to say, sir?"

"You're supposed to say that this company is the lousiest, most unorganized group of maggots you've ever seen, Lt. Hare," said Reynolds. "But don't worry about that, Lt. I'm here to whip them into shape."

Peppy rolled his eyes, which Reynolds took note of.

_One month later..._

"Come on, you fat slobs! Keep moving!"

Reynolds watched as Peppy and Pigma led the soldiers on the track. They've been running for six miles while Reynolds sat at the bench and watched them with pleasure. Throughout the whole month, he's had them do this every day, plus two hundred push-ups and sit-ups, twenty squats, making them jump off a platform as if they were airborne soldiers, having them crawl through a trench full of actual human guts, etc. That list right there barely skimmed the surface of what he made these soldiers do. One day, a soldier threw up from all of the work Reynolds had put him through. As punishment, he made that soldier go through the entire training exercise over again.

Every day, he inspected everyone's locker. If he found anything inappropriate, he would revoke everybody's weekend pass, officers included. These included letters from family and any sort of personal possessions, no matter how priceless they were. Every day, he graded everyone's performance. If one soldier trips over himself, everybody's weekend pass was revoked. Every day, he looked at everyone's hygiene. If a soldier had one crease on his pants, one hair out of place, or one sight of plaque in his teeth, everybody's weekend pass was revoked. His motto was that if one suffers, they all must suffer. The one soldier who had caused everyone's weekend pass to be revoked wasn't berated in any way. They all knew how impossible it was to live up to Reynold's standards.

By night time, they would all have to march through the city in formation, without drinking from their canteens. After this, he would order all of them to empty their canteens in unison. If one soldier's canteen emptied out early, that soldier would have to march through the city again and–wait for it–everybody's weekend pass went bye bye. They were the only company in the city who had to do this, which made it somewhat humiliating. Tonight, however, they were lucky. Reynolds wasn't feeling up to leading them through the city, but he still wanted them to go through the training. So he asked James to lead them if he wasn't busy. He had to watch over Fox for the night, but he still accepted anyway, taking Fox with him.

James walked with Fox alongside the formation, seeing the fatigue in their bodies right away. They were relived to see him and they told him all about what they all had to endure. James didn't show it, but he was horrified at what they told him. It was far more worse than he had imagined.

"Let me ask you something, sir," said Bonham.

"Yes, Bon?"

"There's hundreds of companies in this city. How come we're the only ones who have to spend every night marching through the city, who get passes revoked just for wrinkles and creases, and who get their personal possessions taken away?"

"What do you think, Bon?"

"Captain Reynolds hates us, sir," he said.

James looked at him. "Captain Reynolds doesn't hate A Company, Bon. He just hates you."

The company chuckled. "Thanks, sir," said Bonham, smiling at Moon beside him.

"So how long does he make you guys do this?" asked James.

"About three hours, sir," said Plant.

"Well, we've been at it for an hour right now, Fox is getting tired, and Reynolds is at home. Why don't we just call it a night?"

The soldiers cheered at this statement. They made their way back to the center and they all got dressed into their casual clothes. Reynolds wouldn't be back until morning, so they were in the clear. James would tell him some bullshit story about the march and Reynolds would have no choice but to believe him; he was a Major, after all. All of the soldiers went to sleep while James took Fox on a tour of the center (checking for guns on the floor, of course).

* * *

**What Could've Been**

* * *

_(Formerly Known As) William Kup's Hideout_

"Sooooooooooo... now what?"

After the killing of Kup, and their excessively thriving business, nobody could think of what to do next.

"I dunno," said Eddie. "Where's Bowman?"

"He's at a hotel. With his... um, prostitute," said Powalski.

"Ah, Pam again. Doesn't she have the Jack?"

"Yeah, but Kup gave him something for that," said O'Donnell.

* * *

_409 Citrus Drive_

Inside the hotel room that Bowman was checked into with his prostitute, what do you think they would be doing with the whole night ahead of them? Prostituty things, of course, right? Wrong. Bowman had been with many women before, but not one like this one. He had tried to get her to do whatever he wanted, but she refused. Bowman threw her out of the bed.

"Come on, you're a prostitute, that's all you're good for!"

Pam slapped him in the face. "Fuck you! I never wanted to be in this position in the first place!"

"Then why are you here? You just decided that you're going to spend your entire life doing it with random guys?"

"No! I was desperate, alright? My parents were dead, so I had nowhere to go. They were killed by these... gangsters. I was eighteen at the time and out of a job. I had nobody to run to. I was out on the streets when Kup found me. He... offered me a job. I was starving, I didn't think the decision through. So I accepted the offer and... now here I am. Giving myself up to sick, evil degenerates like you."

When she told him this, Bowman was silent. Her story immediately triggered a flashback to his mother, although it was an entirely different story altogether. They were completely silent, staring at each other, the rage in their eyes fading. Then something prompted Andrew to tell her his story:

"My father had abandoned my mother when she became impregnated, so she had to raise me by herself. She had absolutely no money and no hope of a job. So she... sold herself to willing men on the streets. When things became really desperate for them, she even went as far as..." He closed his eyes in pain as Pam listened. "...as selling me... to the sickest, most vile people you could think of. This was when I was a year old, but when I found out about this, I ran away from her. She made no attempt of finding me. I checked himself into a foster home and stayed there until I dropped out of high school." His voice started to quiver, but he kept going. "I didn't want to feel humiliated by having a mother who would sell her own son, so I started educating myself. I became smarter than any of my fellow classmates, although I didn't show it. I spent hours upon hours reading multiple textbooks, memorizing every page. I didn't need to go to college. It didn't matter that I was failing every subject; I knew every one of them inside out. But I never forgave my mother for what she did to me. She is the reason why I'm the sick, evil degenerate I am today."

When he had finished pouring out his heart and soul to this woman, he did something he had never done before. He broke down into tears. Pam, completely forgetting all of the animosity that took place before, cradled her arms around his head. This whole time, she had thought that this man was just another hoodlum that wanted to have some fun. But in telling him about her story, she had revealed a deeper layer in him that nobody has ever seen.

Andrew looked up at her. "Look, um... I'm sorry for–"

Pam shushed him and kissed him. "You know... we can start over."

"What do you mean?"

"Both of us. Start our lives over."

Andrew thought this over. Is it possible for him to redeem himself after all he's done? Maybe so. He smiled at her and nodded. "Alright."

* * *

_The Bar_

Andrew and Pam both walked into the bar the next morning, with the intention of quitting. They knew the others wouldn't react well with this, but they were dead set on their decision. They could've just left the city, but these guys were smart; they didn't want the risk of being found and killed. They were just going to tell them they were quitting, plain and simple. Andrew climbed down the ladder, telling Pam to wait upstairs.

"Hey, Bowman!" shouted Eddie. "How are things with you and the lady?" Powalski and O'Donnell were the only ones in the room.

Andrew looked at him, ready to leave this lifestyle behind. "Listen, Eddie. I know you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you, but..."

His sentence was interrupted by gunshots up above. Everybody immediately went to the ladder, not climbing up yet. One of their guards peaked his head through the opening. "It's the fuzz!"

"Dammit," said O'Donnell.

_Pam..._ thought Andrew. He needed to get up there, but how? Everybody was shooting everybody and it just wasn't safe. He hoped to God she was alright.

Tear gas started to fill the room up above. "Shit, it's a riot up there!" exclaimed Eddie, covering his mouth.

"So what the hell do we do?" asked Andrew.

"We're leaving," said Powalski. "There's an underground tunnel here that leads well out of this area."

"But–"

"But what?"

"Nothing..."

"Alright, we'd better go now," said Eddie. "It sounds like it's getting out of hand up there." He opened up a hatch in the wall, which revealed a ladder. "Come on! O'Donnell, you have everything?"

O'Donnell nodded. Andrew went first, followed by the others. Eddie shut the hatch, which blended in with the wall, so nobody (including their guards) could follow them. To all of them, anybody left behind were all goners. Andrew knew that and he tried his hardest to keep himself from crying out in rage.

_Later..._

Andrew managed to convince the others that he was going to the hotel to check out. But he had already checked out the night before. Where he was really going was the bar. He knew there was no chance, but he had to make sure. The police were still there, cleaning up the place. They had the dead bodies placed outside. All of them were prostitutes, drunks, scum. And over on the far right, away from them all was Pam. A woman who didn't deserve to be among these other people. Andrew looked at her body, tears streaming down his cheeks. When nobody was looking, he bent down to her head and kissed her. He slowly walked away, letting all of his emotion out so it wouldn't show when he went back to the others.

* * *

_Macbeth_

Andross awoken from his dream, in deep sweat. He chastised himself for remembering that particular moment in his life. He wanted to forget that whole incident the rest of his life. Bowman was gone, his memories should be gone as well. But despite all of his efforts, he couldn't forget. He didn't want to forget.

He had an absolute hatred for his parents – his father for his cowardice and his mother for selling him. It was because of them that he was an absolute disgrace of a human being who inflicted pain onto others, and now, even himself with experimentation. But he had loved that woman dearly. That one night with her was the only moment in his life where he was truly happy. She was the one person that could've changed him. She was the one person who could've turned him from a sadistic, evil, twisted person to a kind, loving person.

As it is, her death made it clear to him that it was meant to be this way. Horrible things happen to him while others go on with life happy and joyful, so he murders them out of jealousy. He knew the stuff he was doing was evil, but he accepted it, and even started to enjoy it as time went on. And he knew that if Pam were looking down on him, she'd be shaking her head in disgust. But he can't help being the way he is. As he said to Pigma before, his life was now just a game. Nothing more than that.


	11. Teaching

**Teaching**

* * *

_Corneria_

_Six months later..._

There had been no sign of any disturbance since the Katinian invasion, and now that Reynolds had control over A Company, James had really nothing to do as a Major while being paid significant amounts of money. This was a good thing, because now he could spend more time with his family than ever before. He had the time of his life raising the now two-year-old Fox with Vixy. Every day, he imagined what they as a family will grow into. Maybe they'll have more kids, who knows? It'll be a lot of fun to raise more of them.

Of course, there were some negative thoughts that sometimes crossed his mind, such as the fights he and Vixy might go through, or even he and Fox as a teenager might go through. There was a sort of concern on how Fox might do in school; what if he failed some subjects? Or worse, what if he fell into peer pressure and started doing drugs? He stowed away those with more happier, less cynical thoughts. Wherever this journey was going to go, he was sure it would be well worth it in the end.

At the Cornerian Army Naval Base, he was signing papers that guaranteed Arwing #7 his personal property. Of course he couldn't fly it, but he'd rather keep it as his own than give it to another soldier. Maybe someday his son will be flying it, but for now, it was officially his. He met Peppy outside, who was taking a break from the usual grueling training procedures of Reynolds. He was a C.O., so he could do that.

"Hey James, have you seen Pigma anywhere?"

"No, why?"

Peppy had a worried look on his face. "Do you notice something here? It seems like Pigma keeps disappearing all of the time."

James looked at him, wondering what he trying to say. "What are you trying to say?"

"Well... Pigma's been our friend for a long time, and I could always trust him... but after he came out of rehab... I don't know. He just seemed, you know, different."

"I know what you mean. But hey, rehab can do that to you, I guess."

"Yeah, maybe..."

"I wouldn't worry about him," said James. "So what's going on today?"

"Reynolds is getting everybody pissed off, as usual. You know, we had a training exercise out in the country, where we would navigate through the lands without getting caught by another company we were training against. Within ten minutes, they spotted us."

"How?"

"Reynolds got us lost. We ended up on the opposite side of where we were supposed to be, so he decided to completely abandon our cover and find our way back."

James shook his head. "That's a shame."

"Jimmy, just think if that was a real battle. Reynolds would've gotten us all killed," said Peppy.

"I'll talk to Banks about it, but I won't guarantee you anything."

"I know. Banks and Reynolds are like best friends, he'll never kick him out."

"Sorry, but I think Banks is just going to have to witness Reynold's stupidity himself someday," said James. "So what's on my schedule?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. You'll be teaching a class now."

James looked at him blankly. "What?"

"Yeah, some class for new recruits. General Pepper needed something for you to do, so he gave you this job."

"Huh." James wasn't too exasperated by this. It shouldn't be too bad teaching a class. "So what are the hours?"

"Well, next class starts next week at ten and ends at four," said Peppy.

"Ten to four? That lines up with Vixy's working hours perfectly," baffled James.

"Oh... well, um... hmm, that's unlucky."

"You're telling me," said James. "Hmm, can't just leave Fox at home like that. Don't want to pay for a babysitter. You're at the training center, Pigma is never around, Jack has Falco to take care of... I'll try and work something out with her."

"You know, Jimmy. Why don't you just take Fox with you to the classes?"

James paused for a minute. "I never thought about that. I hope he could behave though."

"I'm sure he would. Your kid is completely nonchalant about things. Remember you told me, the fire alarm went off in your apartment building once? Everybody scrambled outside, worried. All of the kids were bawling their eyes out except yours."

James remembered. "Yeah... He was telling Vixy and I not to worry and was trying to get all of the other kids to calm down..."

"He even made a ten-year-old kid stop crying, right?"

James laughed. "And it was a pretty big ten-year-old, too..."

_One week later..._

Fox sat in his own desk, which was twice his size, in the back of the classroom. He listened more intently at his dad's lecture than most of the soldiers in the room, which was about proper weapon care. All of the classes were an hour long, but Fox stayed for all of them. James gave him the option to roam around the building with somebody watching over him, but he opted on staying for each class.

James went through the whole day teaching multiple classes, repeating the same lecture over and over again. Fox never grew tired of the lecture, absorbing every word his dad was saying. The only break throughout the whole day was lunchtime. He would tell his dad what a great job he was doing, which James appreciated.

The whole week was the same. James taught lessons such as how to pilot a standard-class fighter, hand signals, first-aid, etc. He was aided with the help of different slide shows, which were prepared by Beltino and not by James. Since Beltino had no idea Fox was in the class as well, he could've incorporated any sort of graphic, disgusting, vile image into the slide shows.

During James' lesson on first-aid, there came a part where he had to explain how to treat a bleeding wound. When he switched on the slide show, an image of a red, juicy, oozing wound immediately popped up. Some of the soldiers groaned in disgust, while Fox sat there, staring. More images of blood, gore, guts, torn up skin, pus, internal organs, exposed bone, etc. followed, with Fox completely unaffected by the whole thing. James was shocked that his two-year-old son didn't even react to these images, while the soldiers' stomachs were churning. He reminded himself to check the child blocks on the T.V. when he got back home.

After classes were over and they arrived back home, Vixy would usually have dinner ready. They'd sit down and have a normal family dinner. Fox would eat anything that they had with no complaints. Well, anything that wasn't green, but that's normal. James would explain what he taught that day to Vixy, with Fox usually taking over after James had said only a couple of sentences. Vixy listened in amusement and amazement as Fox went through every single thing that James had taught that day (in stilted, incomplete sentences, of course). Every time James tried to cut in, Fox shushed him and continued on. He even corrected James on some occasions, such as the number of rounds a standard Gatling Gun can carry; James had said 100, but Fox corrected him with 200. She was impressed at Fox's memory and impressed at James' teaching abilities. "You must be a good teacher if you can get a two-year-old to understand what you're saying."

James grinned. "Yeah. He probably understood my lectures better than half the soldiers in that classroom."

"Damn straight," piped up Fox, with a mouthful of beef in his mouth. James shot a look at Vixy, who smiled weakly.

"He learned that from Robert."


	12. Fichina's Demise Part 1

**Fichina's Demise Part 1**

* * *

_Macbeth_

"Okay, so when are we heading out to Fichina?" asked Roy.

"You have got to be kidding me," said O'Donnell with an incredulous look on his face. "You know how many resources you're wasting just from your little war games?"

"I'm sure he has some idea," said Marth. "But he doesn't care."

"Look, I've just about had enough of this whole thing!" O'Donnell shouted at Andross. "I've been with you for I don't know how long, but I've put up with this for long enough!"

Andross smiled.

"There's that smile again! Are you going insane? Do you even care about how much money you're throwing away with all of this? How much of _my_ money you're throwing away just by keeping your army here?"

Andross nodded, still smiling.

"Well, you know what? Fuck you! You're really pushing it over the edge now, Andross! I don't want to be involved with this whole mess of yours! Seriously, I'm fucking done with you!"

Andross only replied with a shrug, smiling still.

O'Donnell took a deep breath, trying to let all of the steam out from that little outburst he just had. "I want you and your army off of this planet by tomorrow morning. If you're still here by then, I will seriously order my army to open fire on yours. You got that?"

Andross nodded again, the smile fading away.

* * *

_O'Donnell's Quarters_

"Pepper? Come in, Pepper!"

Pepper's face appeared on O'Donnell's laptop after about five seconds. He appeared tired and stressed, it being early in the morning. _"O'Donnell? What do you want?"_

"Listen... I know we're not exactly what you call 'allies,' but I still feel like I need to warn you about this..."

_"What?"_

"It's Andross."

Pepper's eyes shot wide open. His look of exasperation disappeared, replaced by a look of excitement. _"What is it? What about Andross?"_

"He's planning his next invasion. He's going to hit Fichina next," said O'Donnell.

"_How do you know?"_

O'Donnell was really going into dangerous territory. "I've been keeping him here for a while now... I've been an ally of his even after the Lylat Wars, but... I've just had enough of his games and that's why I'm telling you this. I've tolerated him invading Katina, but now another planet is where I have to draw the line. I can't let him keep this up. I want this to stop as much as you do."

Pepper was shocked and surprised. He didn't think in his wildest dreams that he would be getting this kind of information now, especially from somebody like O'Donnell. _ "Is he still there?"_

"No... I couldn't risk him finding out about this. But he'll be at Fichina. He has nowhere else to g–"

An arm wrapped around O'Donnell's neck and pulled him out from his desk chair and onto the floor. _"O'Donnell? What's happening over there?" _ Pepper's voice was silenced as he looked in terror at Andross looking straight into the camera. Andross took the laptop and chucked it at the wall.

O'Donnell looked up at him in shock. He had just undergone another physical change. His muscular shape was noticeably larger and his nostrils were more flared. But his eyes really shocked O'Donnell. They had become larger and more pronounced. His retinal blood vessels were a dark purple and both his irises were a bright orange.

"Andr... wha... you're supposed to be gone..." Andross walked towards him, a vile of transparent liquid in his hand. "Is that... you're... you're not going to..."

O'Donnell tried to fight his way out of Andross' grip as he held open his muzzle and poured the liquid in. He held his nose shut, forcing him to swallow it, and then let go, leaving O'Donnell on the floor gasping for air. As he caught his breath, there was a sudden sensation overtaking his mind. The feeling of animosity he felt towards Andross was suddenly gone. It was replaced by a sudden urge to attack Fichina right now.

"So have we started yet?"

* * *

_Corneria_

James watched as Reynolds screamed in his high-pitched voice at the soldiers to prep up. It was somewhat embarrassing just being around a guy with a voice like that. After everybody was in formation, equipped and ready to go, he spent some time berating them for not being quick enough (four minutes just didn't cut it in his eyes).

"Okay, Reynolds, you've wasted more time berating these soldiers than they have getting ready," said James, who was starting to get a bit exasperated. "You know we could've gotten down there in the time you've wasted?"

"Sir, I was just trying to show these maggots that..."

"These 'maggots' were once my soldiers," said James. "Are you trying to say that my leadership skills and my training of these soldiers were sub par and yours are superior to mine?"

Reynolds stood calm, but James could see a slight lump in his throat. "No sir..."

"Good. Now march these men down to the Naval Base now."

"Yes sir." He yelled for A Company to follow him, which they did. As he watched them leave the building, James caught a thumbs-up from Moon, which he replied to. He saw Peppy walk by, who gave him an unsure look. James returned the look, knowing what it meant. Pigma hadn't showed up.

Once they arrived to the Naval Base, the entire 12th Infantry Regiment grouped together away from the other regiments. This invasion would have more Cornerian involvement than last time.

James caught Beltino, who was walking along the room. "So you're sure you're fine with watching over Fox while I'm gone?"

"Yes, of course!" assured Beltino. "We'll be happy to!"

"Thank you," said James. "I really appreciate it."

Pepper walked out in front of the crowd, to which the soldiers replied with complete silence.

"Listen up! As you've probably heard, our 'unknown enemy' is attacking Fichina at this moment. Harry Caruso was caught with his pants down with much of his army wiped out," explained Pepper. "He's so desperate that he's asked us for our help. Now we're countering this invasion with this large of an army because it has been confirmed by Grant O'Donnell that Andross is on Fichina as we speak."

The soldiers were dead silent, with looks of uneasiness on all of their faces. Pepper began to explain about his conversation with O'Donnell this morning. "The last thing I saw was Andross himself... He had changed, but I knew it was him... He must've killed O'Donnell by now, but he told me enough. Andross was the one who invaded Katina and he's on Fichina right now. Now, you all know what he's capable of. We have to take extreme caution when navigating through the planet..."

* * *

_Atmosphere of Fichina_

James looked out from the window of his office in the Cornerian Flagship. He could see the Great Fox heading down towards the surface, with the Arwings following close behind. He should be with them. He should be down there looking for the bastard who killed his father. But how can he, with his condition? He could barely stand being inside the Great Fox for a short period of time. Even in his office, which was second to General Pepper's in size, he felt uncomfortable. He just had to live with this and watch as the battle went on.

Up here, James had to basically map out everybody's objective. He also had to respond to calls on his PDA from the companies. Sounds like fun, eh? If this was all that he could offer to the army, then he'll do it with no complaints. Still, he wanted to be down there.

"_Okay, we're starting our descent,"_ the pilot said on the intercom. Well, looks like he just got his wish. Maybe transmission signals aren't going through well, so they need to plant themselves somewhere on the surface.

Banks walked into his office, with his radio gear. "Hey James, the transmission signals aren't going through well, so we need to plant ourselves somewhere on the surface," he said.

_Huh..._ thought James. "Where?"

"Anywhere where there's no activity. We'll probably be somewhere outside the mountains. A camp will be set up for the 4th Infantry Division's regiment officers. You can set up there."

James nodded. "Sounds good."

* * *

_Surface_

As he waited for the technicians to set up his computer and radio in his tent, James looked outside as everybody set up their tents, some of them setting up a fire in the middle of the area for the night. It was late afternoon and it was going to get dark soon. This camp was safeguarded and every regiment officer had their own tent. "Sir, it's ready," said one of the technicians.

"Thank you," replied James, slipping back into his tent. These weren't bad at all. It had a nice little cot, enough space for his equipment, and even had a back door which leads to the area outside where he did his... erm... business. Everybody's tent was spaced out as such so that personal space wouldn't be a problem. It also seemed to have no problem keeping him warm. He could take his jacket off and he'd be fine, for a while at least. The most important thing was space, and as said earlier, there was plenty of it, even for his condition. This might be, quite possibly, the most comfortable operation he's ever been involved in.

He sat down at his desk and looked into the monitor, where it showed each of the companies' objectives and directions. Every time a company needed something, there would be a shrill, yet low alarm that would wake him up or alert him. He could contact them through the radio, which was hooked up to his PDA to amplify the volume. Whenever they needed extra equipment, support, directions, etc., they could contact him at any time. Yep, the most comfortable operation he'll be involved in. Also the most boring.

But the thought of maybe capturing Andross excited him. Finally giving him what he deserves made him almost sadistically joyful. He knew that sort of feeling was wrong to have, but given what Andross had done to everyone, he seriously wanted him to pay.

A message popped up on his computer screen. "Message from General Pepper. Would you like to open it now?" it said. James clicked yes.

"_I'm sending this out to every regiment officer," _the video message started. _"We've scanned the area and located Caruso's base, which will be marked on your map shortly. It is located right in the middle of a cluster of mountains and is heavily defended against air attacks, which will necessitate an attack on foot. Please be aware that our surveillance team has spotted Andross at the base and has presumably taken over (a snapshot will be sent to all of you). There will also be a video feed available, which will stream live from the surveillance team. I advise your regiments to take cover near the surrounding mountains. Good luck to all of you."_

After the video closed itself out, James took a look at the snapshot that Pepper sent. The image was fuzzy, but he could clearly see the deformed being that was Andross atop of the base. Goddamn, so that's what he looks like now. He closed out the image to avoid any negative thoughts and took a look at the map and saw the new mark. They were about seventy miles from the objective. You could actually see the cluster from the campsite. Jeez, how in the hell were they going to navigate through all of those mountains? He took a look at the video feed. It was from up atop one of the mountain peaks, so the view wasn't that good. He closed out and logged off his computer, walking outside to get some fresh air. The officers had coffee being made while they sat by the fire.

"Want a cup?" asked Banks, walking over to him with a second cup in his hand.

"Thank you, sir," said James, taking the cup. "Did you get the message from Pepper?"

"I haven't checked it yet. What did it say?" James summarized the message for him. "So it's those mountains over there?"

"Yep. Hope they can't see us from there."

"We'll put out the fire once it gets dark," said Banks.

James looked on at the mountains. "Really boggles your mind, knowing Andross is over there right now, planning something big."

Banks sighed. "I know. Bet he has a shitload of defense."

James nodded, sipping his coffee. "We going up there once the soldiers are in position?"

"Yeah, everybody is. Nobody wants to miss out on this opportunity."

"I can't blame them."


	13. Fichina's Demise Part 2

**Fichina's Demise Part 2**

* * *

_Cornerian Research Center_

Dr. Bowman followed the head scientist, Dr. Hayley, around the room, looking at all of the various stations where other scientists were working on whatever. "And here's your station," said Dr. Hayley.

"Thank you," said Dr. Bowman, who sat down on his swivel chair. "So what are we all working on now?"

"Well, we work on various things, but the Kemeno virus is what our mind is set on right now."

"Ah. Nasty one."

"Yeah... We've had our heads wrapped around this for a while now and we haven't had any real results yet. But we're not giving up any time soon."

With that, he walked away, leaving Dr. Bowman to his work. It was strange that he obtained the title "Doctor" in such a short time. His bullshit college degree really did wonders; nobody could tell it was fake. His associates really pulled through with making this degree foolproof, even to the point of erasing somebody else out of existence. That, I'd rather not delve into. But they were willing to do so for the crapload of cash that Bowman was going to rake in from this. Although they could tell that Bowman had more intentions behind this than just money.

After Pam's death, Andrew wanted to find some way to make her proud up there. He had to stay with Eddie, O'Donnell, and the others to avoid getting killed out of betrayal, but he wanted to do at least one good deed for Corneria, without them knowing of course. He wished he didn't have to fake his college degree, but it was the only real way he could do this. His days of tearing people apart were behind him now. This was going to be his life from now on.

The Kemeno virus is one of the most dangerous viruses found around the Lylat System. It affected the medulla oblongata, which in turn affected the control of heart rate. Many people have suffered from this and it's spreading like wildfire. Andrew was sure that he could find a cure somehow. He had to, for her...

* * *

_Fichina's Base of Operations_

Andross shook away the thought while he watched from atop all of the Fichina soldiers they've captured being carried away inside, where they were going to be locked up. Pigma stood next to him, watching as well. "We did a head count, and we've captured about four hundred of them so far."

Andross shrugged.

"Yeah, I know, not that big of a number. There's still quite a few of them out there, and with the Cornerian Army on their side..."

Andross nodded. He looked up at the mountaintops, feeling very enclosed in this spot. He could imagine all of the Cornerian soldiers trying to navigate through the mountains right now. They weren't going to attack yet until Andross gave the order. That will be when they get extremely close to the base; he really wanted to see a fight going on.

* * *

_Outside the Mountains_

Peppy watched as the soldiers sat around, not bothering to shovel out foxholes. It's been two days since they arrived on the planet, and everybody else in the 12th Infantry Regiment had already been settled in outside the mountains, with the rest of the 4th Infantry Division and various others settled around other places. The reason why they were late had to do with Reynolds not knowing how to work his PDA, which Peppy had to help him with. He sighed, seeing the look of exasperation on their faces as they laid around. This weather wasn't helping with the frustration either. It didn't matter how many layers they had on, it was still fucking cold!

Reynolds was out wandering around, so he left Peppy to watch over the company with virtually no additional instructions. He didn't even tell them where he was going or when he was going to be back. This was a good thing and bad thing. The good thing about it was that they didn't have to suffer from Reynold's complete incompetence for a while. The bad thing about it was that they had no leader and nowhere to go from here.

The entire company of 151 was split into five platoons (thirty soldiers in four platoons, thirty-one in one). Peppy was in charge of 2nd Platoon and the other four were taken over by Reynolds and three other lieutenants. However, since Reynolds was MIA at the moment, Peppy had to take over for 1st platoon, meaning he had two to watch over now. Which was fine, because he now had all thirty of the Lylat Wars survivors under his command now, plus an additional thirty.

"Alright, so what do we do now, sir?" asked Moon.

"That's a very good question, Moonie," replied Peppy. "Since your platoon leader is gone, we have no particular objective right now. So I guess we just wait until he comes back."

"Great. How long has he been gone so far?"

"I'd say about three hours."

"We're all gonna die, aren't we, sir?" Bonham asked sarcastically.

Peppy laughed. "Come on Bon, you know we're better off without his command."

"I guess so. He'd get us all killed in there."

Peppy nodded in agreement. "Alright, you might as well wait some more. We'll be moving out on our route soon," said Peppy.

"You serious, sir? We just got here," complained Page.

"Well, if it wasn't for our fearless leader, that wouldn't have been a problem, now would it? I'm sorry, but we have to keep pace with the others."

From afar, he could see Reynolds walking towards them. "Oh shit," muttered Bonham.

"Lt. Hare, front and center!" yelled Reynolds. Peppy rolled his eyes and ran over to the Captain. "What have you been doing here since I was gone?"

"Waiting for you, sir. Where were you?"

"I'm asking the questions here, Lt.! Now, what were you supposed to be doing?" asked Reynolds.

"I don't know, sir. What were we supposed to be doing?"

"You were supposed to be shoveling out your foxholes, Lt. Now get busy!"

Peppy was starting to get really pissed off now. "Sir, we're leaving in two hours. What's the point?"

"Lt., the point is to follow my orders! Get your soldiers to dig out their foxholes now before we leave. If these holes aren't dug by the time I get back, there will be consequences to pay, understand?!"

Peppy held in his anger. "Yes sir. I understand."

"Good. Watch over my platoon, will ya?" With that, he left once again, with no indication of where he was going or when he was coming back. The soldiers looked in disgust as they started to shovel out their foxholes. Peppy grunted and grabbed his shovel, wishing that he could beat the living shit out of that guy.

_Two hours later..._

The foxholes were dug, everybody was on their way, and Reynolds still wasn't back. Peppy shook his head in frustration as he watched the other companies leave. "Ten more minutes. We'll wait ten more minutes. If he's not back by that time, we're leaving," said Peppy.

"What about the rest of the company?" asked Monroe.

"They're free to go. They're not stuck under Reynolds' command."

As they watched the companies leave, Captain Hunt took notice of them standing there waiting. "Lt. Hare!"

"Yes sir?" replied Peppy.

"What're you waiting for? We're leaving!"

"Sorry sir, but we have to wait for Captain Reynolds."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know. Maybe at battalion HQ's."

The officer looked at him incredulously. "He does know that he can contact them through his PDA, right?"

"Well sir, I didn't get the chance to do so because he was too busy being an asshole to our company."

Hunt sighed. "Alright, fuck him. Tell him I commanded you to leave without him when–_if_–he comes back. Get going on your route. You have a PDA?"

"I actually have two, sir," said Peppy, holding up a second PDA. "Reynolds forgot his." The soldiers laughed. Hunt smirked, thinking of the complaint letter he was going to write to Banks later on.

"Alright, get going, Hare."

"Yes sir. Let's move out!" Both platoons followed Peppy's lead as they marched along their route. It was going to quite a task to get all sixty of these guys through safely. All of the snipers along the way made them all worried. They would all have to move slowly to conceal their appearance, even if it was just slightly.

"Hey James," said Peppy into his PDA. "Can I get an update on the map on Reynolds' PDA? It's not working properly."

_"Sure thing," _replied James. _"May I ask why you have Reynolds' PDA?"_

"Long story. Is it updated?"

_"I've just sent it. It'll take about another two minutes."_

"Alright, thanks." He slipped his PDA back into his pocket. "Daltrey, can you hold onto this? You'll be watching over Reynolds' platoon but I'll still be in command."

"Yes sir," replied Daltrey, taking the PDA. "And if Reynolds comes back?"

"I have a feeling that won't happen any time soon."

_Four hours later..._

And he was right. It was growing dark and Reynolds was still nowhere in sight. They kept moving along on their path, since this was the perfect time to get moving. The darkness made a good cover and their white uniforms wouldn't show up well through night vision goggles. "Stay spread out," advised Peppy. "There's a cave somewhere around here. We'll stay there for the rest of the night."

He looked up at the mountain peaks, seeing some shards of light shining around them. A Searcher. "Get down!"

They all went into a prone position, hiding as a giant ship flew by, shining a spotlight down below. "Keep still!" The Searcher made another pass around the area. It spotted a soldier and proceeded to open fire.

"Shit, run!" yelled Peppy as he and the soldiers ran for their lives, trying to avoid the fire. He shut his eyes from the spotlight, praying that there was a cave. He didn't look back to avoid seeing soldiers being shot to pieces.

Both platoons followed after Peppy, who exhaled in relief as he saw the cave he was looking for–which was occupied by a small enemy group. "Take them out!" he yelled, holding up his rifle and shooting wildly. The others did so as well, completely massacring the cave occupants. "Come on!" He reached the cave and looked outside, wincing every time he saw somebody collapse onto the group. All of the soldiers scrambled inside, taking cover from the ship. Its pilots decided these soldiers weren't worth the time and flew away. Peppy took a breath and looked around at the group. "Daltrey, count your men." Daltrey did a quick head count around the room. "26, sir," he replied.

"I've got 28," said Peppy. "That's 54 total." He did a quick recount just to make sure, coming up with the same result. "Who's missing?"

They all looked around, seeing who wasn't with the group. "Waters," somebody said.

"Taylor isn't here," said Plant.

"Sir?" Moon looked around with a worried look on his face. "Bon's out there."

_Shit_, thought Peppy. "Harper, Morgan, are you here?" The two medics of the group reported to him. "Listen, we're going out there. We have to find out if there are other survivors."

"What if the Searcher comes back?" asked Harper.

"I'll risk it. I'm not leaving them out there," Peppy said, ending the argument rather quickly. "Monroe, Hopkins, Thompson, Moon, Rudd, come with us! The rest of you, stay here!"

The group left the cave, keeping their eyes and ears open for anybody screaming for help–and for any ships flying overhead. "Taylor's over here," Monroe called out.

"How is he?"

Monroe shook his head in reply. Peppy sighed, motioning for him to bring the body back to the cave. Harper and Rudd found another casualty over by a large rock. "Who is it?" asked Morgan.

"It's Waters," said Harper.

"I'm fine," assured Waters, limping. "I just need some help walking."

Peppy and Moon saw a soldier they immediately recognized: Bonham. They rushed over, Moon getting there first, and saw that he was still breathing, but that's about all he was doing. His chest was bursting, turning the snow below him a bright red. "Sir... I'm fucked up..." he gasped.

"Don't talk, Bon. We'll get you fixed up..."

"Sir! We're bringing the bodies back to the cave!" Morgan called out. "I have a feeling we might be spotted out here!"

Peppy nodded. "Alright, can you come over here? And get Harper, too. Bonham needs serious help." He saw Hopkins and Monroe dragging two other soldiers–dead, presumably–back to the cave. Rudd helped Waters walk back while Thompson brought back the final soldier–Entwistle, who was clearly dead from the way his mouth was dripping red. Peppy looked at the sight, thinking that this sort of thing would never happen if James were in command.

Harper and Morgan ran over to Bonham, getting their materials out. Moon watched helplessly as he held Bonham's hand. "Shit... God..." he whispered. Bonham's eyes were looking up at him as Harper gave him a shot of morphine and Morgan began to wrap him in gauze.

"Harper, pressure on the wound!" instructed Morgan, taking Bonham's blanket out of his sack. "Sir, Moonie, we need some help here." Peppy and Moon obeyed, forcing down on the blanket. Harper took it and pushed it down on the wound. Morgan felt around behind his back, feeling a large wound in his back. "Went right through him..."

"Here, use this," said Moon, handing him his own blanket. Morgan grabbed it and pushed it under Bonham. "Keep pushing down!"

"He's not stopping..." said Harper.

"Come on, push down harder!"

They seemed to push down on that wound for forever. Tears streamed from Moon's eyes as he watched his best friend go limp. Morgan kept pushing, with Harper letting up. "Morgan..."

"No... come on..."

"Morgan... that's enough..."

Peppy comforted Moon, as Morgan threw the extra gauze onto the ground, feeling completely defeated. Harper took Bonham's dog tag as Moon weeped into Peppy's lap.

Peppy looked up, seeing the last person that he wanted to see: Reynolds. He was walking towards them, apparently done with his nature walk. "What happened, Lt.?"

"We were gunned down by a Searcher," Peppy replied. "We lost five soldiers and one is injured."

Reynolds seemed completely unaffected by the news. "Don't worry, Lt. I won't allow any more of my soldiers to be killed." He walked away to the cave.

"We're _his_ soldiers?" asked Harper. "Fucking asshole..."

Peppy shook his head in disbelief. "Let's get Bonham back to the cave. Come on, Moonie..." He patted the back of Moon's head as he stood up, pulling Moon up with him. "Harper, help me out here." They both carried Bonham's body back to the cave while Morgan and Moon slowly followed behind them.

_Three days later..._

All of the soldiers were practically outside of the base right now and Reynold's statement about him not losing anymore of "his" soldiers dissolved pretty quickly. Under his command, ten soldiers were killed in combat (three of them were in the Lylat Wars – Jones, Ward, and Townshend), not counting the four others killed by the Searcher. Compared to the other platoons in A Company, Reynold's platoon was completely slaughtered. Peppy's platoon hadn't had any other casualties in these three days, so his casualty number was still at just one. The other three platoons, altogether, had seven casualties so far. That means, with the other four others, Reynold's platoon had lost fourteen soldiers, almost half his original platoon. Even if you didn't count the other four, he still had more casualties than the rest of the company had put together.

Peppy couldn't believe the number that Reynolds had reported and thought that it was a typo. Replacement soldiers should be arriving at his platoon just about now. He shook his head, reporting the number to his own platoon, who were all settled in another cave they found about seven miles from the other one. The others couldn't even comprehend how horrible of a leader Reynolds was.

"Sir, just imagine when we actually get to the base tomorrow," said Page, who wiped the tears away from hearing about Townshend.

"I know," said Peppy. He had to contact Banks and tell him what was happening. He could at least make him aware of Reynolds' lack of leadership skills.

_Three hours later..._

"Ah, Lt.," said Banks over the PDA. "What's your status so far?"

"My platoon is doing good, sir," replied Peppy. "I have confidence in all of the soldiers of 2nd Platoon to perform well tomorrow."

"Good," said Banks. "So what's the problem then?"

Peppy took a deep breath. "It's 1st Platoon I'm worried about, sir."

"Reynolds' platoon? What is it?"

"Well, today, I've just gotten news that ten of his soldiers were killed in the last three days," Peppy explained. "That makes fourteen in all, sir, which is almost half his platoon."

"We all have our bad times, Lt."

"I know, but..." Peppy took another deep breath. "Look sir, I know he's your friend and all, but... I have to be honest."

Banks listened intently.

"Cpt. Reynolds is nothing but an empty uniform, sir. He's just... not there..."

"Well, he'll be there tomorrow, Lt."

"I know, but... he's going to have to lead us, sir, and I don't think he's capable of doing that. I've seen his performance in the field up close and it's not good, sir. He's been brutal and unfair to the soldiers, has gotten us lost repeatedly, and he doesn't even know how to use his PDA. I know better soldiers who could lead this company a thousand times better than this, sir. And I know that tomorrow, he's going to get a lot of good soldiers killed." Peppy sighed, waiting for a response.

"Thank you, Lt., that'll be all." With that, Banks signed off. Peppy wondered what Banks was probably thinking right now. Is he contemplating on replacing Reynolds for a better officer? Not likely. Did he just dismiss Peppy's complaint altogether? Probably not; he can't ignore the fact that they've lost more soldiers than they've ever had before. Regardless, Peppy had done all that he could do about Reynolds. Well, at least all that he could do _legally._ Now he just had to hope for the best tomorrow.


	14. Fichina's Demise Part 3

**Fichina's Demise Part 3**

* * *

_Battalion Headquarters_

"Most of the defense has been taken out," said James. "And I've just gotten the report from all of the companies. All of our soldiers are in position."

"Good," replied Banks. "7th and 9th are ready as well. We just need to wait for 3rd and 5th."

"Yes sir." He watched as the camp was being taken down. Sipping on his coffee, he directed the technicians where to put his computer and the rest of his gear.

"5th's in position," said Banks. "3rd is just about there, so let's go." He strapped himself in the seat of an army truck. "Get in the back."

James looked at the backseat, unsure. "Um..."

"Oh, right..."

"I'll just hitch a ride on top of one of the tanks."

* * *

_Base of Operations – Exterior_

The surveillance team was spotted by a Searcher about four hours prior to this, and they had to abandon their posts. The last image they had managed to get was Andross watching over his army. Next to him was a figure nobody could recognize, except for the fact that he was a swine. But it didn't matter; the important thing was that they knew that Andross was still at the base.

Peppy's platoon had the launchers all set up on top of the valley. On command, they were to fire rockets into the sky, which would then fall down onto the base (or at least near it). Afterwards, Reynolds would lead them down the mountain peaks, along with the other platoons and many of the other companies, and they would all blitz the area. They just needed to keep themselves moving, with no hesitations.

Three of the tanks arrived, with James on top of one of them, along with several army trucks, containing the regiment officers. Banks got out of his truck and went to pat Reynolds on the back. James slid down off the hull of the tank and greeted A Company. He noticed that he couldn't recognize most of Reynolds' platoon. He hadn't gotten the casualty report – that went to Banks – so he had no idea prior to this that they had lost so many.

"Jimmy," said Peppy, "it's been a mess."

James sighed. "Well, you know it wasn't your fault, right?"

"I know, but... I don't think we're going to make it out of this. I mean, especially with him in command," Peppy said, gesturing to Reynolds.

"Just make the best out of the situation, alright?" He put his hand on Peppy's shoulder. "Never give up, trust your instincts."

Peppy nodded. "Right."

"Alright, everybody! It's showtime!" yelled out Banks. Peppy ordered 2nd Platoon to get the launchers ready, while the other soldiers readied themselves to charge.

_Moment of truth_, thought James.

"Fire!" shouted Banks.

Peppy repeated the order, and the launchers fired several rockets into the air, making a high pitched whirring sound. Seconds later, they could hear the impact explosions. Over on the other side of the valley, more and more rockets were sent flying into the air, landing down below.

"Charge!"

All of the platoons bolted forward in unison – except for Reynolds', who had hesitated. From here on out, the entire company was under his command. The first wave of companies followed suit, bringing down a rain of laser fire. The enemy troops retaliated. Heavy artillery down below fired madly at the crowd of soldiers, taking out a few of them. The tanks up above did their best to knock them out.

Peppy looked to the side, seeing Reynolds' platoon lagging behind. He kept his head forward, focusing on not getting hit. Nothing to worry about really; they were too small of targets and were moving too fast. 4th Platoon reached the bottom first, followed by Peppy's, 3rd, 5th, then finally Reynolds'. They took cover behind the wreckage and anything else they could find. Peppy looked over at Reynolds, who looked scared out of his mind.

"WHAT'S YOUR COMMAND, SIR?" Peppy shouted over the commotion.

"HUH?" Reynolds yelled back. A soldier behind him took a shot to the head.

"I SAID, WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW, SIR?"

Reynolds looked around, scanning the area worryingly. "WE'LL STAY HERE!"

_What?_ thought Peppy. Banks had specifically suggested that they keep moving while down here. Staying in one spot while they were being hit with all of this shit was suicide.

Up top, James saw through his binoculars that most of the soldiers had started to engage the enemy soldiers – except for a small group, which was completely stationary behind some wreckage just outside of the area. It took James a while for him to realize it was A Company. What the hell were they doing? That was a sure–fire way to get killed.

Peppy looked up at the valley and saw the second wave of soldiers charging down. "SIR, SECOND WAVE'S ALREADY COMING! WE NEED TO GO NOW!"

"NO! STAY HERE, WHERE IT'S SAFE!" argued Reynolds, another one of his soldiers taking a hit.

_Fuck_, thought Peppy. He really was going to get them all killed.

"SIR!" yelled out the 3rd Platoon leader. "WE'RE SITTING DUCKS HERE! WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVING, OR WE'LL GET KILLED!" Two of his soldiers were simultaneously struck down.

"LT., FOLLOW MY ORDERS, OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"

"Sir? Our company's not going anywhere," said James.

"What do you mean?"

"Reynolds has the entire company behind cover. They're being picked off like flies down there!"

"Radio him, see what's going on."

James grabbed his PDA, calling up Reynolds. Down below, Reynolds fiddled with the buttons to get it to answer the call.

"Cpt., what the hell is going on down there? You've got to move!"

"SIR, I THINK WE NEED TO STAY BEHIND COVER!" Reynolds shouted into the PDA, distorting the sound on James' end.

"Cpt., Banks over here is telling you to get your ass moving! And everybody else seems to be reaching the base just fine! Now get to it!"

Reynolds shook his head, shutting off his PDA. "We're not going anywhere," he said to his platoon.

"Sir, they're still not moving," said James.

"Shit, what is he doing?" asked Banks.

Peppy couldn't stand watching more of their soldiers being mass murdered. "Let's go," he ordered, and his platoon gladly followed him.

"HARE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" screamed Reynolds. "FOLLOW WHAT I SAY, OR – "

"FUCK YOU, REYNOLDS!" Peppy shouted back, leading his platoon to the base. The other platoons followed suit, merging with the second wave of soldiers that had just reached the bottom. Reynolds watched angrily as his soldiers disobeyed his orders before his very eyes. He grudgingly followed them, his platoon trailing his path in frustration.

Finally, thought James. Now they just needed to survive the interior.

* * *

_Base of Operations – Interior_

Being that Harry Caroso was one of the richest beings alive, he had quite a large base. So large, in fact, that it was the perfect place for Andross to hide. It was also the perfect place to hold a large scale shootout inside one of the hangar bays. While most of the battle was taking place outside, two platoons (Peppy's own and another from D Company) had managed to sneak in. He had no idea where the rest of the company was, but he couldn't worry about it now. They just needed to find Andross, and to do that, they first had to deal with the hangar bay full of enemies. Luckily, there were plenty of ships and rows of steel boxes of ammunition to hide behind.

The platoon spent the entire time acting as a firing squad, each of them kneeling behind a steel box or any other source of cover, and giving it all they had to the enemies, which were disposed of pretty quickly.

"Lt. Hare," called out Cpt. Hunt. "I'll lead my platoon this way." He pointed to a tight hallway on the right side.

"Yes sir," responded Peppy.

* * *

_Exterior_

Along with the third wave, the regiment officers and most of their tanks descended towards the bottom as well. Thanks to the extremely strong traction on these things, they didn't have to worry about having these things slipping and toppling onto the soldiers. James stuck close by one of tanks, away from the crowd, to avoid fighting. All he had with him was a pistol anyway. The rest of the regiment officers, however, started to kick ass. More enemy soldiers were erupting out of the base, countering their attack. As he watched the two armies obliterate each other, he wished how he could just join in.

* * *

_Interior_

Peppy and his soldiers inspected all of the rooms they encountered in this hallway, finding nothing of interest or importance so far. Monroe had found a data log, which only further confirmed that Andross was still here. Everybody else couldn't find jack shit.

The hallway that Hunt took linked up to the hallway Peppy took, and they met up at a cross, where they found another pair of hallways to explore. "Alright, I'll take the right one again," said Hunt.

Peppy nodded. He was about head for the left hallway before he heard, "Wait just a moment, Lt." All of the soldiers turned to see Reynolds, with his platoon in front of him, and a rocket launcher aimed right for Peppy's head.

* * *

_Hangar_

As he looked inside one of the hallways, a cold sweat ran down James' neck. No way could he survive in there. He backed away and stayed in the middle of the hangar, where it was more open.

"They've seem to have done quite a number on this place," said Banks.

"Yeah," agreed James, breathing easier over here. 3rd Platoon watched over them, inspecting every part of the hangar to see if there were any more enemies.

An echo of footsteps were heard coming from the left hallway. All of the soldiers aimed their weapons toward the opening, only to lower them as they saw a fellow A Company soldier rush into the hangar – one that James recognized.

"Daltrey? Where's Reynolds? Aren't you in his platoon?" he asked.

"Sir..." gasped Daltrey. "He... Reynol... gone... completely... insane..."

"What?"

All of the soldiers stopped what they were doing to listen.

Daltrey took a second to catch his breath. "He has... rocket launcher... threatening... to kill our... platoons."

Banks couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He's lying! Reynolds wouldn't do something like that!"

But James had more trust in what Daltrey was saying. Besides, he knew him well. "Threatening to kill? For what?"

Daltrey shook his head, saying, "I... don't know..."

"There has to be some sort of mistake," concluded Banks. "Continue on," he told the platoon.

Shit, thought James. Peppy was in those hallways. If Banks wasn't going to do anything about it, that meant he had to, since Daltrey was too tired to even do anything right now. He walked over to the hallway, looking inside. Just from the look of it, he shook in fear. The tight space, the lack of air. It scared him to death. No, he couldn't do it! But his best friend was in there... his soldiers that he trained were being held hostage by a psychotic... he had to... fuck his condition...

* * *

_Hallway_

"Traitor," said Hunt.

"No no no, I'm no henchman of Andross," Reynolds said calmly. "It just really pisses me off when a soldier doesn't follow my orders, let alone my entire company."

"Reynolds, you were going to get us all killed," said Peppy, backing away.

"You didn't know that. We could've saved more soldiers staying there than we would've otherwise. Besides, aren't you supposed to follow your superiors at all times, Lt.? Somebody failed to do that."

"But – "

"Shut up!" he shouted, raising the rocket launcher higher. "I'm gonna do it! I swear to God, I'll fucking do it!"

"Shit, he's psychotic..." exclaimed Moon.

"Look, Reynolds, what's that going to accomplish?" asked Peppy, keeping his calm. "You're going to get yourself killed, and you're going to waste all of these good soldiers' lives!"

"Fuck them!" he shouted. "They don't respect me! I know what you've all been saying about me! How you've all mocked me of my leadership, my navigation! Who fucking cares that I can't do any of that, I'm a captain! You don't show any proper respect!"

Peppy became angry, not caring anymore whether he was going to get blown up or not. "Because you don't fucking deserve it! We were getting tired of your unorthodox training and your constant berating! Not to mention the fact that you've completely abandoned us in combat! Who the fuck gave you the privilege to be a captain?! Or hell, part of the army?! You don't even deserve to be part of the maintenance staff!"

Reynolds' smiled. "You've got a lot of guts to say shit like that. Now you're going to pay for – "

He didn't finish his sentence as a sharp jolt of pain in his forehead knocked him out cold. Peppy and the rest of the soldiers gazed as if it were a miracle. They couldn't believe it as they saw James twirl his pistol around his fingers.

"How the – wha – uh..." stammered Peppy.

"Let's just continue on, alright? I'm in charge of this platoon now," said James. "Hunt, proceed."

Hunt, who was still trying to digest what the hell was going on, nodded and headed off with his platoon. James walked over Reynolds' body, picked up his rocket launcher, and ordered his platoon, along with Peppy's, to follow him.

"You're claustrophobic! You shouldn't even be here!" exclaimed Peppy.

"That's not going to be a problem anymore," assured James, smiling. His PDA started to ring, which he answered. "Yes?"

"James, get back up here!" Banks shouted. "We have a huge problem!"

"What is it, sir? More enemies?"

A loud, shrieking noise was heard, which both confused and startled all of the soldiers. "You could say that..."

* * *

_Exterior_

Outside, James could see that the fighting had stopped. All of Andross' forces had retreated, leaving all of the Cornerian and Fichinian soldiers down below. Why? Well, maybe it had something to do with the gigantic insect-like creature flying up in the sky, completely obliterating countless aircrafts. It was the ugliest and scariest thing James had ever seen. It looked like some sort of moth, with its wings having a purplish puke color to them. Its eye (well, it looked like an eye, anyway) had no iris, and shined a bright purple.

"Sir?"

"James, we have to get out of here..." said Banks.

"But Andross..."

"Andross already escaped! We saw his ship leave as soon as this thing appeared. Look at what it's doing, we can't defend ourselves against that!"

James nodded. "Everybody back to the Great Fox!" His platoon carried Reynolds' unconscious body along as all of the soldiers ran for their lives out of the valley, while the creature flew overhead, as if to tease them. ROB had the Great Fox ready at the top of the valley, in case they needed it. James stood at the hangar door, waving the soldiers in. Everybody scrambled inside, with a couple of the Fichinian soldiers running in as well. When the last soldier loaded on, ROB took off. He fired a couple of shots at the creature, which it shook off pretty quickly. The creature returned fire with lasers firing out of its wings. ROB tried to avoid all of them, failing to do so on the last laser, which shook the entire ship like a can of soda.

Everybody wanted to look out the windows to get a better look at the monster. James, Banks, and ROB had the best view inside the cockpit. This thing was absolutely disgusting. Around the monster, all of the air force pelted it with all of ammunition they had, barely making any marks.

"We've gotta get the Arwings out there," said James.

"Yeah," said Banks. "Order up a flight squadron."

James nodded. "Is Arwing #7 still on board?"

Banks smiled. "It's good to have you back, McCloud."

* * *

_Eladardian Flagship_

Andross watched as the monster wrecked havoc upon the area as the ship flew away. Pigma watched also, in complete awe. "Wow. That thing is quite a beauty. I don't know how you do it."

Andross turned to look at him, with a confused look on his face.

"You did make that thing, right? You were talking before about the pollution bomb, about how it could alter any animal's appearance, behavior, all that shit?"

He shook his head and shrugged. Pigma raised his eyebrow. "Then where the hell did it come from?"

* * *

_Fichina_

All twelve Arwings, led by James, shot out of the hangar bay, joining the fight. Still a little shaky from not flying in a long time, the controls took a few minutes to get used to again. He locked his viewpoint onto the creature, firing away, with the other Arwings doing the same. The creature seemed to be taking absolutely no damage as it happily wiped away building structures down below and fighters up above. "You see that eye? Aim for it!" ordered James. That might be able to inflict at least _some_ pain onto it, but it wasn't going to be easy. From the distance they were from it right now, the size of the eye could be compared to a pinball.

Countless Cornerian ships fell out of the sky, either from being hit by one of the lasers, or from being tackled by it. At times, it would just downright fly into a crowd of ships, knocking them all out of the sky. All of the debris dropping down would cause more damage down below, as if there wasn't enough. James maneuvered around the massive amounts of ships, readying his smart bomb. He charged up his laser and tried to lock onto the monster's eye. Increasing his speed, leaving the other Arwings in the dust, he started to close onto his target. The monster couldn't see what he was trying to do, as there was too much shit hitting it that it could barely see anything.

"Everybody out of the way!" yelled James. The ships obliged and cleared a path for him. The eye came into complete focus; he had the perfect shot. Getting just a little bit closer, he fired the smart bomb and the charged laser.

A direct hit! The eye had exploded into a flame, a green liquid pouring out of its socket. All of the ships retreated to avoid a large explosion; and they rightfully did so. The creature let out a ring of fire as it let out a gigantic wail of death that everybody could hear clearly, even inside their cockpits. It fell towards the ground, landing right on top of a factory of some sort, completely crushing it under its weight.

* * *

_Surface_

While the battle was raging inside the cluster of mountains, this creature seemed to be causing trouble around the entire planet. Countless cities and towns had been totally annihilated by this thing, since most of the Fichinian soldiers had been captured and they had no defense. Thankfully, many people had escaped or had found cover, but the number of casualties overwhelmed that number.

General Pepper agreed to let the Cornerian soldiers stay on the planet for a bit to help clean up. They were going to need all the help they were going to get to rebuild everything. Caroso was wealthy, but all of this was going to seriously drain his money.

As everybody started to clean up, James took a look at the creature he just destroyed. It smelled worse than it looked. Inspecting the eye, he noticed a small, round object inside, about the size of a basketball. He dug into the eye and took it out, shaking off all of the goo.

"What is that?" asked Peppy.

"I don't know, but we'll have to get it to Beltino. Maybe we can find out what the hell this thing is."

"You know, I've overheard the other regiment officers having a conversation with Pepper. They're thinking about giving you the Medal of Honor."

James looked up at him. "What?"

"Yeah. I mean, you were the one that destroyed this thing. Also, how you overcame your condition and took out Reynolds for us."

James smiled, as they both began to walk around. "He'll need to be court-marshaled for that. Even Banks won't keep him around anymore for threatening you guys."

"Not to mention all of the casualties our company suffered. We've lost thirty-one, not counting replacements, which is about 20 percent of the company." Peppy was silent for a moment. "Still, we didn't do too bad, since we virtually had no leader."

"No leader, huh?" James walked past a couple of technicians, giving them the object. "Well, from what I've been told, from Cpt. Hunt and the soldiers, they've always had one. Somebody who really looked over his soldiers and cared for them. Somebody who stuck his neck out for them when they were really taking a pounding. Somebody who was a thousand times better of a leader than Reynolds was."

Not knowing who James was talking about, Peppy slowly nodded.

"You don't know who I'm talking about, do you?"

He shook his head.

"Hell, it was you, Peppy. Ever since I left, the soldiers considered you the real leader of A Company."

Peppy smiled slightly, touched that the soldiers would say that about him.

"Well, I gotta go contact Beltino, see how Fox is doing and tell him about the object," said James.

"Alright."

James had begun to walk away, before remembering something. "Oh yeah, another thing. I, too, overheard the regiment officers talking to Pepper about something. Apparently, you're not going to be a Lt. any longer."

"What?"

"You'll get the confirmation within a week or so. Congratulations, Captain."


	15. Let's Spend the Last Night Together

**Let's Spend the (Last) Night Together **

* * *

_Corneria_

_Two weeks later..._

With a bright and shiny new Medal of Honor around his neck, James was now well known around Corneria, something he never thought would ever happen. He didn't like being a "celebrity," and as such, he tried to conceal the medal as much as he could. This proved to be useless, as many people would still recognize him on the street, asking him a bunch of questions. The first day back as a teacher, every student in every class asked the same questions over and over again, and he had to answer them over and over again. By the last two or so class periods, James had given up on answering everything, and just had Fox recite the entire story.

Instead of taking over A Company again, James had decided to stay with his previous job and let Peppy lead the company. He was content with his position right now and would still visit the training center every now and then to see how things were going. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces he had to recognize now; there were also a lot of familiar faces he missed seeing. The last time he had seen Moon, he could barely smile. It was a large, and unfortunate, change in his personality. Well, losing your best friend would do that to you, he guessed. This triggered an unwelcome thought in his head about Peppy, which he shook off almost immediately.

* * *

_Flashback_

Andrew couldn't stop himself from caressing the gold medal hung around his neck, which was the Honorary Award for Outstanding Medical Achievements. Finding a cure for the Kemeno virus was a piece of cake for him, and now he felt sheer redemption. Knowing that he probably saved millions of people from death was a wonderful feeling. _Aren't you proud of me, Pam?  
_

He loved the response of the other fellow doctors in the lab when he first revealed his solution. They were stunned beyond all belief. Only one of them, Dr. Miyamoto, seemed to express doubt. He thought there might have been some danger to his solution, which could be deadly. But that was highly unlikely; Andrew checked everything. He was sure that the solution was completely safe.

* * *

_Present Time – Flagship _

But of course, Andross remembered, there was a flaw in the solution that caused severe brain damage. It was found out two weeks later by Miyamoto, who also found a new solution that was completely harmless. Dr. Bowman was humiliated, and went into a state of exile. Was anything good ever supposed to happen to him? The one good deed he tries to do, and it ends up causing more damage than before. Well, that was the moment, Andross remembered, when he really became the man he was today. He figured if God wouldn't let anything good occur in his life, what was the point of _being_ good?

The others had doubts before about what exactly his motives were, but now all those doubts had been washed away. Dr. Bowman was completely insane and wanted nothing more than to inflict pain on others. This was evidenced when he brought in Dr. Miyamoto to be tortured in the most severe way possible: by slicing off every layer of skin off his body. Before, they all had power over Dr. Bowman. He was just another recruit who happened to be a genius; now, they were terrified of him. There was no telling what this guy would do to them if they had tried to show any sort of power over him. Even suggesting what to have for breakfast could've gotten them all killed, maybe.

Well, after that, they wouldn't doubt his orders or try to go their own way anymore. They'd follow him through the craziest stunts imaginable, including a large scale shootout in downtown Corneria...

* * *

_Flashback – Corneria _

O'Donnell fired madly at the crowd, who were all starting to run away. It didn't matter who he was firing at, be it a small child or a senior citizen. He didn't like it, but he was told to do this and he'll be rewarded in some way. Anything for money was his motto. Powalski gave him covering fire from the police, gunning down several of them. Many others followed suit, some of them even going into the crowd and beating them to the ground. Police officers continued to pour into the vicinity, being picked off one by one.

As his cohorts continued to wreak havoc on downtown Corneria, Dr. Bowman laughed as he kept his rifle pointed at a woman he held in his grip, backing into an alley.

"Bowman! That woman hasn't done anything! Just let her go, and you won't get hurt!" yelled out a very young Jim Edwards.

"Kid, you're a very convincing being," replied Dr. Bowman. "I'll oblige." He let go of the woman, who fell to the ground whimpering. He dropped his rifle to the ground and held his arms up.

"Alright..." said Edwards. "Now come towards us..."

Dr. Bowman obeyed. As he walked towards the police officers, he turned around and fired at the woman. Edwards ran up behind him and bashed him in the back of the head, knocking him out. "Shit!" he shouted, looking at the woman, whose head had completely exploded into a red, bloody mess. He looked around, seeing the others retreating. Why would Bowman do something like this? He knew it must've felt terrible for him to find out his cure was complete bullshit, but to pull a stunt like this?

* * *

_Present Time – Flagship _

Why he had reflected on this event right now, Andross wasn't sure. It might have had something to do with the Medal of Honor awarding ceremony he was watching on T.V. right now. Major James McCloud was being rewarded for defeating that creature they saw on Fichina. That might have triggered his memory of winning that Honorary Award, which then led to this.

Andross took a solution out of his briefcase; it must be ready now. He jabbed the syringe into his neck, injecting it. A sense of relief filled his throat, and he took the syringe out, clearing out his throat. Pigma looked over.

"Can you talk now?"

He coughed and nodded. **"This feels much better..."**

"So what now?" Pigma asked.

**"Remember that shootout back in the day, downtown? Thirty–nine people dead?"**

"Oh yeah, I was like ten or something when that happened. Why?"

**"I wonder what it would be like to pull a stunt like that again..."**

* * *

_Corneria_

Vixy waved goodbye at Beltino as he took Fox along with him to visit for a while. Driving up to the apartment building, James watched Beltino's car drive away with Fox inside. He parked, got out, and met Vixy outside. "How long is he going to be there?"

"Until eight o'clock," said Vixy. She walked up closer to him with a sultry smile on her face, stroking the top of his head. "That's a lot of time, Jimmy..."

James tried to smile, but his yawning prevented that. "I'm really tired right now, honey..."

"Come on, Jimmy..." she said, pulling the Medal of Honor around his neck and bringing him closer. "Eating out won't kill you... dinner, I mean..."

He laughed, wondering what exactly he did to deserve this woman. "Alright, fine..."

* * *

_Downtown_

Well, the dinner wasn't enough for both of us, so we decided to spend more time together tonight. It was still early, anyway; Fox was coming home at eight, and it was about six right now. Vixy wanted to go to the shopping mall, but I was reluctant.

"What? You can stand suffering through prison, being trapped in your Arwing without air, and fighting all of those battles, but a shopping mall can bring you down?"

"You don't know how long it's been since I've been inside a mall," I said. But the fake, "pretty please," Bambi eyes look she was pulling on me was the most adorable thing I had ever seen, so I agreed. "Alright, we'll go. I get you something nice. What do women usually shop for? Shoes? Jewelry? Lingerie?"

She slapped me playfully on the shoulder. "Lingerie's something men shop for."

"Alright, we'll buy that then."

We entered the mall, and it actually seemed quite enjoyable. I hate malls. I can't fucking stand them. But with Vixy, it was a completely different experience. Somehow, I don't feel like the chiseled Medal of Honor war hero that people figure me for. I felt like an average Joe, the kind of person who doesn't have to worry about life and death situations, war, or crime. I could just be a normal person, out with his wife, the kids at home with a babysitter or at school, with nothing to worry about except car payments and taxes. Yikes.

So we walk into the first store that interested her, and I basically stood around while she looked at clothes. We walk out and travel a bit further until she found another store that looked appealing. I walked around inside while she looked at... clothes. Then we walked out, traveled further, found another store, and I wandered around while she looked at (wait for it) clothes. I decided then that I was going to be extravagant for the first time in my life and buy her something.

While she couldn't take her eyes off the shoes, I sneaked out and found a jewelry store over on the other side. Immediately, I saw this gold pearl necklace that just screamed "I'm gonna get lucky tonight," so I bought it. It was going to set me back a considerable amount of money, but who cares? She was worth it.

I walk back into the store, where she was still looking at the shoes. I tapped her on the shoulder and presented the gift to her. She nearly deafened me with her screams of delight, and gave me a gigantic hug and kiss right in the middle of the store. An elderly woman walked past and said, "Aww, isn't that sweet?" I think I'm supposed to be embarrassed, but I'm not.

Fox was going to be home soon, so we had to get going now. At this time of night, the downtown area was usually quite busy, so it would take a bit of time to get back to the car. As we walked out of the mall and down the sidewalk, hand in hand, I noticed some figures hiding out behind some parked cars. Damn kids trying to cause trouble, probably. Then I saw one stand up, with something in his hands.

"Wait," I said, stopping.

"What is it?" asked Vixy.

I didn't answer. I looked more closely, and my heart started to pound. That thing he was holding; it looked like a rifle...

Oh shit, it _is_ a rifle!

"VIXY, GET DOWN!" I screamed, as the gunman began to spray bullets into the crowd. I grabbed Vixy and brought her to the ground, covering her from the fire. If anybody was going to be shot tonight, it wasn't going to be her! More gunmen emerged and proceeded to open fire. Police officers began to pour into the area, guiding pedestrians to safety and firing back. I looked up, seeing some of them start to chuck grenades at random places.

"Vixy, we have to get out of here!" I yelled. She whimpered, holding me tightly. "Just stay close to me! I'll protect you!"

I picked her up from off the ground and looked around. Where is that damned car?! As we both inched our way out of the area, avoiding the areas of heavy fire, a grenade nearby exploded and knocked us both off our feet. She fell to the ground and I leaped on top of her, holding her closely. I could hear bullets ricocheting near us.

"Are you alright?"

She didn't say anything, but she nodded slightly.

"Let's go!"

We both got up and got moving again. Everything seemed to be a blur. Here we were, having the time of our lives, and something like this happens. Pedestrians running for their lives started knocking us down. I held onto Vixy's hand as tight as I could, but in the crowd, it was hard to keep her close to me.

Another wave of bullets pelted us down, and I ducked underneath to avoid them. Somebody in front of me fell to the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth. As people around me collapsed and bled, I tugged on Vixy's hand to tell her to get moving, but I found that she didn't budge. I looked back, and what I saw was the image that I never wanted to see as long as I lived. That wave of bullets had caught not only most of the people around me, but my wife as well.

I couldn't even remember what exactly I was feeling at that moment. What I can remember, though, is me crying out in anguish as I cradled my wife's body, wishing that I could've been killed with her...


	16. Love Lost

**Love Lost**

* * *

_Corneria_

Laying my wife to the ground, I saw somebody from across the street with a large machine gun. He must have been the one! I sprinted towards him in a furious rage. That bastard was going to fucking die! I screamed as I ran for him, grabbing a rifle left on the ground. I could feel my eyes burn and I couldn't see clearly as I fired at the killer wildly. The killer turned and shot back, which I avoided by ducking behind a mailbox. I fired back, which prompted the killer to start running again. I knocked the mailbox down in anger and darted towards him.

The killer couldn't outrun me, and I tackled him to the concrete ground. I then began to bash the butt of his rifle against his ribs, effectively breaking them. "I'm not through with you yet!" I shouted. I threw the rifle aside, sat on top of him and proceeded to land a series of crippling punches to his face. I then grabbed his head and started to bash it against the ground. I grabbed the rifle and aimed it at his head, but before I was going to do that, I needed to see the face behind this mask. I needed to see the ugly face of this fucking asshole who killed my wife! I almost had it off, before I looked up to see another gunman, with a pistol aimed for my right eye...

* * *

The gunman pulled the trigger, and James fell to the ground. He reached down to the killer on the floor and pulled off his mask, revealing Pigma groaning in agony.

"**You look like hell. Let's get out of here..."**

* * *

_Hospital_

Peppy watched from outside as the nurses and doctors surrounded James in his bed. He was nearby the area, eating dinner, when he heard the shots outside. He caught a glimpse of James as he angrily chased after one of the gunmen, and he also saw Vixy's body on the ground amongst other bodies, all violated with bullets.

He turned around to see Pepper walking up to him.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Pepper.

"Depends on what you mean by okay. He took a tranquilizer dart to the right eye. He's going to be fine, except for his eye, which they're replacing right now," said Peppy.

"Oh," said Pepper. "And... Vixy?" Peppy shook his head solemnly. "It's unbelievable. Did you see who did it?"

"No. I saw James chasing after somebody, but they were all wearing masks. You know, Pigma's down on the other end. He's really been beaten to a pulp..."

"Those attackers were ruthless..." Pepper agreed.

Beltino appeared at the end of the hallway, with Fox. Peppy sighed, not knowing what to say to the kid as he walked up towards him.

"Peppy? Is Dad alright?" asked Fox.

"Yes, he's going to be just fine," said Peppy. He winced, seeing that Fox's eyes were puffy and red. "Do you know about..."

Fox replied with a slow nod, wiping his eyes. "I know."

* * *

_The next morning..._

I opened my eyes, feeling around the warm sheets of the hospital bed. I just had the most wonderful dream. I saw Vixy as an old lady, watching with pride as a grown up Fox was being awarded the Medal of Honor. After the ceremony, she ran up to her son, kissing and hugging him. Fox was smiling with joy, but at the same time, he had a sad look in his eyes. "I wish Dad were here to see this," he said. Vixy smiled softly, saying, "He was here to see this. I know it."

The grown up Fox sounded just like me and looked like me too. I smiled at the dream, and rubbed my eyes. I stopped, feeling a strange sensation in my right one. It felt... solid. A large metallic ball had replaced it. My vision appeared normal, but...

That's when I remembered: The pistol... I remembered being angry... running after somebody... dressed in black... blood on my hands... my wife...

Suddenly, I let out a loud wail, wanting to go back to the dream. I wanted to be in that alternate universe, where I was the one killed and not Vixy! Dammit, why couldn't it have been me?! Why did she have to take the bullet?! The doctors rushed into the room, restraining me to the bed. Fuck them! I started to curse at them. I cursed at the person who killed Vixy. I cursed at the person who shot me in the eye and took away my chance at justice.

But most of all, I cursed at myself. I chastised myself for not being able to protect her. For not being able to take those bullets for her. I had failed her. I'm sorry, Vixy... I'm so sorry...

* * *

Fox, who was waiting in the hospital all night with Peppy, woke up to his father's cries and ran across the hallway to the room, seeing the doctors trying to calm him down. He had never seen his father become so hysterical before. Fox had always thought of his dad as the strong, stoic type who never even shed a tear. When he first heard about his mother, he couldn't stop crying for the longest time and he had wondered what his dad would think of him if he saw him cry like that. But to see his father become so vulnerable and fragile like that, it prompted him to walk into the room and try to sort things out.

"This isn't a good time, Fox. Go back to sleep," said one of the nurses.

"Leave me alone with him," said Fox demandingly. James started to whimper and wrapped his arms around his legs. The doctors all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. "Please." A bit taken aback at Fox's unnaturally strong tone for his age, they all left the room, shutting the door behind them. Fox climbed up on top of the bed, getting a look at James' new eye for the first time. He ignored it and laid his head on top of his father's shoulder.

* * *

I had heard my son's voice earlier, but I didn't react. I wondered why the doctors had all of a sudden left me, but then I turned to see my son, wrapping his arms around me, as if I was his son and he was my father. "It'll be alright, Dad..."

I was completely astounded, and I began to tear up again, but from joy. I hugged him, kissing him on the forehead. I didn't ever want to let go of him.

"Don't you ever leave me," I whispered to him.

* * *

_Apartment #207_

I arranged for the funeral service to be a week from now; first, they had to clean up her body. I didn't want my son to see her with all of those bullet wounds. I tucked Fox into bed; he had a sad look on his face, but at the same time, he seemed to be happy that he at least still had me. I turned off the lights and closed the door behind me. I walked over to my bedroom, but caught notice of the sunglasses that used to belong to Edwards. Picking them up off the T.V., I looked at them, wondering what Edwards would've done in that situation. They were together at one point; what if they were still together? Would Vixy had lived on?

It was an unwelcome thought, which vanished as soon as I thought of Fox. If Vixy wasn't ever with me, we would never have produced that wonderful child of ours. And besides, Vixy wasn't really dead. She's still here, living through our son. Fox was the only family I had left, and if I were to lose him, that would be the end of me. I sighed, bringing the glasses with me into the bedroom; just leaving them on the T.V. like that just doesn't seem right.

Walking into the bathroom, I placed the glasses by the sink, thinking of where I could put them. I then proceeded to do my daily routine; brushing my teeth, washing my face, the usual. I let the faucet run, squirted toothpaste onto my brush, and was about to put it up to my mouth when the sight of my eye stopped me. I dropped the brush, startled at the sight. Then was the first time I had ever seen my new eye, and it scared the hell out of me. It was as if somebody had stuck a large, chrome ball into my socket.

That eye immediately brought back all of the pain and sorrow I felt that night. Tears fell from my left eye, but not my right. I couldn't even cry properly. Not being able to stand looking at it any longer, I grabbed Edwards' sunglasses and put them on. The dark shades covered the eye up completely and I couldn't see it at all. Was that how it was going to be, then? I had to wear these glasses to avoid feeling that pain again? Well, yes. I didn't ever want to see my right eye ever again. Even inside, I was going to wear these sunglasses for the rest of my life.

In a way, this was a method for me to forget the sad times, and remember the happy times. I was thankful that our last moments together were happy moments. I cherished those memories of shopping with her and that warm feeling I felt when she hugged and kissed me from that gift. She died wearing that gift, I remembered. I was glad that I was able to give her something in return for everything she had given me; the greatest love that anybody could ever have given to anybody. A love that nobody's ever given me since my mother had died. I thanked her and I smiled as I sat down on the bathroom floor, letting her image take over me.


	17. Past Memories

**Past Memories  
**

* * *

**Note: **Sorry for the long update. Computer problems again, which caused me to lose this file over and over again (I seriously need a new computer). So this chapter will be a little short, because I just want at least _some _sort of update.

* * *

_Corneria_

Nobody ever asked about James' glasses. Even indoors, or when it was cloudy outside, nobody really took the effort to ask him about it. Instead, they took the effort to mourn for his and Fox's loss. The funeral service, James remembered, was quite successful, and Vixy would've been happy. She was buried in the Vermilion Street cemetery, on top of a lone hilltop.

Among the guests were Peppy, the Lombardi family, the Toad family, Pepper, Vixy's co-workers and friends, Banks, and a number of soldiers from A Company. Even Reynolds made a stop by. Whether it was just for the occasion, or the therapy really worked, he had changed. James didn't know what it was, but he appreciated his concerns.

Monroe had brought along his recently born daughter, whose name was Katherine. She seemed to have taken a liking to Falco, giggling at all of the faces he was making at her. Matt Lynx had also come, which was a welcome surprise. Neither he, Peppy, Lombardi or Pepper had saw him in a long while, so it was a nice little reunion between the five former Rangers.

The other Ranger, Pigma, obviously couldn't come. James stopped by afterwards to talk."I'm sorry I missed that," he said. "I really wish I could've come, but, you know…"

"It's fine," replied James. "I appreciate it. And so would she."

"Look…" He tried to adjust himself in a more comfortable position. "I know I haven't been around much. I guess you could say I'm really tired of the army lifestyle. But after I get out of this, you know, I have to regain my strength and everything. I'll try to be around more often. I guess I owe it to you."

James smiled. "Good to hear, Pigma. I'll see ya later…"

* * *

_Macbeth_

"Well," said Marth, taking off his mask. "That was fun."

Roy nodded, tossing his weapon aside. "Pointless, but fun. How many did we leave behind?"

"Um, I think about three," replied Marth.

They both shrugged carelessly. "You should've seen Pigma. Damn, he was fucked up real bad."

"What happened?" asked Marth.

"I don't know. Andross just told me to bring him to the Cornerian hospital. I had to switch his clothing, and I managed to get a… er… disturbingly close look at his injuries."

"Huh… he really must've done _something…"_

O'Donnell walked into the room, pulling off his mask. "Where's Andross?"

Marth and Roy looked around. "Uh… I don't know. I haven't seen him since we landed."

They heard the door downstairs lock shut. They looked at each other, going down the stairs to check it out. "Andross? You there?"

**"Leave me here…" **said Andross from inside his quarters.

"What's going on, sir?" asked Marth.

"**Just go. I'm going to be in here for a while…"**

They were all confused, but not wanting to push the matter any further, they all went back upstairs.

* * *

_Andross' Quarters_

Andross listened until the footsteps faded away. After that, he took out his briefcase, opened it, and took a look at the last valve of potion. _Won't be long now, _he thought. Setting it down, he sat back in his chair and reflected on the day. He didn't know what it was, but something happened that he didn't expect. It was something that he never thought he would feel. Sympathy.

He saw what Pigma did. He also saw James McCloud holding his dead wife, screaming in agony. In fact, he saw many husbands and wives holding onto their loved ones in desperation and sadness. Their spouses, their friends, their children. Somehow, Andross couldn't bring himself to kill those people. He just couldn't. Andrew Bowman would've murdered all of those people in cold blood; why couldn't he do the same? The answer: his memories. No, they weren't his memories, they were Bowman's memories, and they were haunting him. All of those horrible deeds he did; from burning his classmates alive to flaying Dr. Miyamoto to death. He regretted all of it. He needed some way to get rid of those memories. And that was exactly what he was going to try to do. He was going to spend however long tweaking his final potion so that Bowman would be truly dead. Only Andross would exist; all of the good in his heart will be destroyed, and that's what he wanted. Even if it meant forgetting her…


	18. Time Lapses

**Time Lapses**

* * *

Note: Yes, I realize that Fox, Slippy, and Falco all have an outrageously wide vocabulary range for their ages. What can I say, I don't know how kids their age are supposed to speak! Definitely not like this, though...

* * *

_Corneria_

_Three years later…_

It was a strange sight for all of the soldiers-in-training to see a five-year-old demonstrate proper hand signals, but there they were, watching Fox do them all correctly in front of the class. James watched in pride while the class watched in awe (and in some embarrassment, seeing as they couldn't do the hand signals correctly). Around the Cornerian Army Naval Base, Fox has started to become known as the sort of child prodigy of the army. He has excelled in many categories; he even knew how to properly load and fire a weapon, although James obviously wasn't going to let him do that.

He passed along this information to Falco and Robert (now affectionately called Slippy by everyone he knows). Although he couldn't talk to Falco much anymore, since he actually had to go to school now. And that was something Falco wasn't happy about at all. He refused to be acknowledged as Richard by his teachers, and continued to give them shit until they all gave in and called him by his nickname. Even after that, he still gave them shit; he just didn't like school, and planned to cause as much trouble as he possibly can, much to his parents' dismay.

Fox dreaded going to school the next week. He already had to go to preschool at night, and it was pure torture for him. He wanted to stay with his dad and help "teach" his classes.

"You know you can't do that," said James. "Look, you're going to have to learn a bunch of things that the army can't teach you."

"Like what?" asked Fox. "I can read… kinda."

"I know, but school's going to make your reading better. Also, there's math, science, all that. That's all more important than knowing how to load and fire a weapon, which is something you're not even supposed to know!"

Fox smiled. "Yeah…"

"Just do me a favor. Don't tell any of your classmates what you learned in the army."

"I've already told Falco and Slippy…"

"That's fine, as long as they don't tell anybody else. Kids your age aren't supposed to know things like that," said James.

* * *

_Kindergarten_

A week later, Fox, along with Slippy, turned five, and they both had to go to kindergarten. They both sat in the classroom on the first day in sheer boredom as they learned about colors and their ABC's, etc.

"I know all of this already," whispered Slippy to Fox. "I don't know if I can take this…"

"It's only going to be three hours," said Fox, looking at the clock. "We can hold out for three hours, right?"

Well, those three hours felt like days. They both watched in disgust as their fellow classmates sang songs about stars and rain, ran around in organized circles, clapped their hands, and painted multicolored shit on paper.

"Look at this!" yelled Slippy, holding up a picture of a sheep, which he had to color in. "What purpose does this serve?! Coloring in between the lines? I don't need that to get anywhere in life!"

Fox sighed, as he broke another crayon on the table. "These things always break. I don't know what it is, but I just can't get a crayon to stay in one piece."

"I'd use the markers," said Slippy. "Crayons are stup-"

Fox stopped him before he could finish his sentence. "Careful, we can't say that in school."

"Why not? I know words much more contemptible than that!"

"Yeah, but you know how these teachers are…"

"Alright, class!" screamed the teacher in an extreme fit of excitement that scared both Fox and Slippy. "Your parents are here!"

"Ah, thank the Lord!" yelled Slippy as he tossed his paper aside. Fox exhaled in relief and ran up to his dad, who was waiting along with the other parents at the doorstep.

* * *

_Playground_

Falco laughed as he listened to Fox and Slippy's complaints about school. "Ah, kindergarten… Horrendous experiences, they were…"

"How did you ever survive?" asked Slippy, sitting on top of the playground structure.

"Ah, it wasn't easy," said Falco, jumping from the ladder he was climbing to the ground. "But you guys haven't seen anything yet. It gets worse."

Fox hung from the monkey bars. "How can it get any worse than singing songs about falling bridges in London? I don't even know where London is."

"No, don't get me wrong, kindergarten is pretty bad. But I'm telling you, you guys have it easy. See, in kindergarten, teachers will let you get away with just about anything. Because, you know, you're kids, and you don't know any better."

"At least, that's what the teachers think," said Slippy.

Falco nodded in agreement. "But, in first grade, that's when it starts to get tough. You actually have to start doing _work_. The teachers start to get meaner and more loathsome, as if that were possible, and make you follow actual rules…"

Fox picked his legs up and hung them on the bars, letting the rest of his body drop. "Really?"

"Yep. Believe me, I had a lot of homework in my first grade. And you know what happens if you don't do any of it?"

Slippy slid down from the structure. "What?"

"You get your name stamped on the naughty board."

"Doesn't sound too bad," said Slippy.

"No, it really isn't. But after a while of _not _doing your homework, they do the unthinkable."

"Which is?" asked Fox.

"They call your parents."

"They wouldn't!" exclaimed Slippy.

"They would. I've had it happen to me once, and man, was my dad angry…"

"Your dad's always angry," said Fox.

"True, but I mean, this was beyond his usual level of angriness. I was afraid he'd run me over with his wheelchair or something."

* * *

_One Year Later..._

_Apartment #207_

Fox groaned as he slaved over his math problems at home. Slippy did them with no effort, but since there were so many of them, he was feeling the same pain. Falco laid down on the floor, reading a book.

"It's times like these when I wish I lived in the world of Pokémon," said Slippy.

"What do you mean?" asked Fox.

"Well, you don't see anybody going to school in that show, do you? I used to watch that show all of the time, played all of the video games, and I thought that was how life was going to be. Just going out into the world and catching Pokémon."

Falco rolled his eyes as he continued to read.

"That's the problem with cartoons. They always lie to us."

"Well, I really don't think Corneria would throw away their entire educative system just to parallel real life with an eminently successful video game franchise," said Fox. "Besides, Pokémon don't even exist, you know."

"You don't believe there's at least _one _planet out there that's inhabited by Pokémon-like species?" asked Slippy.

"I could care less," Fox replied, shifting his focus back to his sheet.

"I gotta believe there's a world out there that follows that exact same pattern of life as Pokémon," continued Slippy, which Fox tried to ignore. "Leaving home at the age of 10, traveling the world, catching Pokémon, waging them in endless battles for gym badges..."

"See, I always thought that was a bit sketchy," said Falco, putting his book down. "All Pokémon are treated like slaves on that show. Do they really deserve being tortured and put through agonizing pain just so their trainers could get some lousy ribbons?"

"Well, it's not like they're complaining," said Slippy. "Look at Pikachu; now there's loyalty right there. He'd do anything for Ash. I don't see it as a slave/owner relationship at all."

"Whatever. Why are we talking about this anyway? That show is getting really old."

"Yeah, it's always the same plot," said Fox. "They meet some new people, see a new Pokémon (how many of them are there now, anyway?), Team Rocket comes out of nowhere and tries to steal Pikachu, they fail miserably, 'blast off again,' then it's off to the next episode, where they do the exact same thing. I prefer the first season."

Slippy shrugged. "I agree with that. Personally, I think it really jumped the shark after Misty left."

Falco looked over. "Wait, she left?"

"You didn't know? This happened a while ago," said Fox. "They replaced her with… um…"

"May," replied Slippy. "Naturally, you don't like her at first, right? Then, right when you start to get used to her, they replace her too! With some girl named Dawn."

"I haven't watched the show in a long time," said Falco. "I had no idea this all happened. How could they replace Misty?"

"I don't know," said Slippy. "They brought her back for a few episodes, but I hope they bring her back for the last episode so she can get with Ash."

Fox groaned. "Oh, come on…"

"Hey, the show couldn't make it any more obvious what with all of the hints they try to cram into every episode and whatnot. Not to mention _Misty's Song _from that _2BA Master_ CD or whatever it was called. Why would they tease us so after all of these years and not make anything out of it in the end?"

Falco sighed. "Didn't know you were such a Pokéshipper…"

"Why, what kind of shipper are you?" asked Slippy.

"I'm not a shipper at all, and I think love is gross."

"No argument there," said Fox. "But if they are going to get Ash and Misty together, they should at least make it so that they're adults or something. Misty is like, what, a foot taller than Ash?"

"An inordinate exaggeration, but yes," said Slippy, nodding. "That would be a little awkward to see when they're kissing…"

Falco gagged in disgust. "Okay, can we just get back to our homework, please? I have a quiz on this book tomorrow, and I don't plan on failing!"

"Wow Falco, you're actually _trying _to get good grades?"

"Shut up."


	19. Just a Simple Trade Delivery

**Just a Simple Trade Delivery…**

* * *

_Macbeth_

Four years. Andross hasn't come out of that room of his in four years at all. He would open the door just a slight crack to ask for food and everything, but other than that, he's been completely secluded from society altogether. Nobody had any real idea what exactly he was doing down there, and nobody really wanted to know. Knowing Andross, it could've been just about anything.

"You know what I've always wondered?" asked Roy.

"What's that?" asked Marth.

"Is there a bathroom down there?"

"I don't… Oh... Oh, GOD!"

They heard the door downstairs squeak, which made Roy sigh. "Alright, I guess it's lunchtime. Andross, it's coming…"

Before Roy could leave to get food, however, he heard everybody gasp at the sight before them. He looked back and saw Andross emerging from the steps, completely drenched in his own filth. His entire head had been completely surrounded by extremely long, untangled hair, and you could see what looked like curly fur peeking out of every opening in his clothing. He looked noticeably skinnier, probably from lack of food. But the appearance wasn't as bad as the smell.

"Sir! Oh..." Marth coughed and covered his nose with his hand, which the smell still penetrated. "You're finally out!" _He's been down there for four years, he could've at least given us some sort of warning!_

Andross smiled as he wobbled forward, barely able to keep his balance.

"…Sir? Are you okay?" asked Roy.

"**Off courth… Neher… bethurr…" **he slurred.

"Oikonny? What's going on?" asked O'Donnell. "What have you been doing down there for so long?"

"**Fuinal… pothion… siheeffffecth," **he replied, wiping away his drool. He started to laugh uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" asked Roy.

"**Hehe… chek tha compoota…"**

O'Donnell went over to the main computer, seeing that Andross just sent a letter to Corneria, inviting them here in the form of a trade delivery.

"What?!"

* * *

_Apartment #207_

Fox, who was watching T.V., heard the apartment buzzer buzz. He went over to the intercom and pressed the button to talk. "Who is it?"

"_It's Peppy."_

"Come on up," he said, walking over to the door and unlocking it. He went back to watching until a few minutes later, when Peppy walked in.

"Hey Fox! Where's your dad?"

"In the bathroom," said Fox. "What do you need?"

"I'm just here to drive him to the base. General Pepper has another mission for him," responded Peppy, walking in.

"I know, I'm coming with."

"You are?"

"Yeah, he wants me to visit another planet for a change instead of just sitting around here. Besides, it's just a trade delivery. A far cry from all of the large scale planet invasions he used to fight in."

"Yeah, but we don't want any more large scale planet invasions, do we? What are you watching?"

"Oh… Pokémon…"

"Ah. I wasn't too big on Earth franchises. You like it?"

Fox looked at him. "Don't even get me started on this show…"

James walked out from the bathroom, surprised to see Peppy there. "Hey, we ready to leave already?"

"Yep. Here's the supply list and all of the soldiers coming with you." he said, handing him a clipboard. "Your ship leaves in two hours, might as well get going."

"Alright. Let's go, Fox."

"Right behind you, sir," said Fox, turning off the T.V. and following James and Peppy out the door.

"Hey," whispered Peppy to James. "Do you find it strange at all that your son talks like an adult?"

James shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

* * *

_Trade Ship_

There was no use taking the Great Fox for this kind of mission, as he only had five soldiers with him (Moon, Monroe, Daltrey, Pigma and Morgan) and Fox. ROB, as always, flew the ship to Macbeth, which was pretty far from Corneria. It wasn't too happy with the controls, as they were very primitive compared to the Great Fox, but it still did its job, albeit reluctantly. Wait, what am I saying? It's a fricking robot.

"What have we got with us?" asked Monroe.

"Just the usual stuff," said Moon, looking over the list. "Food, medicine, other goods."

"Great," sighed Pigma, sitting down in his seat. "This should be exciting."

"Happy you came back, eh?" asked James, smiling.

"_Macbeth is in range," _said ROB from the cockpit. _"Twenty minutes to landing."_

"Thanks, ROB," said James, holstering his pistol.

"You sure you need that?" asked Fox.

"You never know."

* * *

_Macbeth_

After unloading their supplies from the trade ship onto a train car, the soldiers all boarded on and rode the train to the Naval Base.

"They have vending machines in the train cars?" asked Moon incredulously.

It took them about fifteen minutes for them to reach the base, and five minutes to unload the supplies from the car and carry them all to the base. When they all reached the entrance, Captains Marth and Roy were there to greet them.

"Hello, and welcome," said Marth. "I'm sorry, but Mr. O'Donnell is busy right now. Would you mind waiting for him inside? He would like to discuss things with you first."

"Alright," said James. What O'Donnell would possibly want to discuss with him, he didn't ask. He and the others followed them inside while some workers came out and carried the supplies away. They took them up to the top floor and offered them seats. The workers up there eyed them, all with nervous looks as if something was terribly wrong. Some of them, you could just see the sweat gleaming off of their heads.

"I don't like this," whispered Morgan.

"Don't worry," replied James. He looked over and saw a young white wolf sitting at a console, playing a video game of some sort. He didn't know O'Donnell had a son. Probably a product of a night out drinking. Fox walked over to him and watched him play.

"What game are you playing?" he asked.

"Piss off," replied the wolf.

"Lovely chap," Fox said to himself, walking away.

"Hey, where's your bathroom?" asked Pigma.

"Oh, it's just down the hall, and to your left..." said Roy.

"Roy, he didn't mean _that _bathroom!" Marth said through gritted teeth, almost yelling at him.

"Or... you could just go down this hatch right here. There's a bathroom down there..." said Roy in an unsure way, looking over at Marth, who was smacking himself in the head.

Pigma raised his eyebrow at the both of them. "Uh, thanks... I'll be back in a minute."

* * *

_Andross' Quarters_

Well, the place he was going wasn't a bathroom, but it sure as hell smelled like one. Pigma was in complete shock when he saw Andross' new appearance. He was thrashing about at everything in site like a wild gorilla while O'Donnell was trying to grab hold of him to calm him down. "What the hell's going on?"

"He's going fucking insane! I can't get him to stop!" exclaimed O'Donnell. "It's a side effect of the potion!"

"Well, that's one hell of a side effect!"

"**There's Cornerian soldiers up there, right?" **Andross snarled, his slur now gone.

"Y-Yes…" said Pigma.

"**Great! They want me, they can get me!"**

Pigma gaped. "What? What do you mean?"

Andross threw O'Donnell up against a wall and grabbed hold of Pigma in a headlock. **"You're now my hostage!" **He started to laugh.

"Wha… Let go… are you crazy?!" yelled Pigma in a panic.

"**Your potion is wearing out," **said Andross. He screamed to the top of his lungs, wanting the others to hear him outside.

* * *

_Naval Base_

"What the hell was that?" asked James. The others listened in for another noise, which was all coming from downstairs. "Pigma? Everything okay down there?"

Marth and Roy looked at each other, not knowing what to say to reassure them. It looked as if there was no way of reassuring them. Andross told them beforehand what was going to happen, but they couldn't do anything about it. They were told to just let whatever was going to happen happen. But whatever was going to happen was probably not going to end up well for the both of them.

* * *

_Andross' Quarters_

The potion Andross had taken caused a massive psychological change to occur in Andross' mind. Every single memory of his past life, good and bad, raced through his brain, penetrating his very soul, causing his whole inner conscience to collapse. All of his logical sense was completely eradicated, and he couldn't stop himself from doing the things he was doing. He kept Pigma in the headlock, walking him up the stairs. He pulled out a pistol and started wasting an entire clip of ammunition randomly in the air.

O'Donnell laid down on the ground, groaning in pain. He couldn't believe that Andross was going to throw away everything that he had worked for just like that.

* * *

_Naval Base_

James immediately jumped up from his seat upon hearing the gun sounds and whipped out his own pistol. The others crowded behind him, since they were completely unarmed. Fox stayed close to his dad, grabbing onto him tightly. Marth and Roy knew Andross was going to go crazy, but they didn't know he was going to have a _firearm _with him!

Andross threw Pigma out onto the floor and stepped on his head to stop him from escaping while reloading his weapon. James and the others couldn't believe what was happening before them. There he was, in the flesh, just in arm's reach… They needed to act… There's no way they were going to let him get away this time.

"Andross…" said James slowly. "Let him go…"

**"James McCloud, right?" **asked Andross. **"How nice to meet you…"**

"...Likewise..."

"**And…" **He bent down to Fox's level. **"Who might you be?"**

"Oh… just a spectator…" replied Fox, smiling nervously.

Andross started to laugh again, standing back up. **"Nice kid… I have a feeling I might have to deal with you someday. But for now, I'll just have to deal with your father…"**

James started to back away as Andross wobbled towards him with a sadistic smile on his face. Pigma tried to get up, but Andross immediately aimed his pistol towards him, taking his eyes off of James momentarily. James didn't waste this opportunity; he charged forward and tackled Andross to the floor. He then bashed him on the head with his pistol, knocking him out cold.

"Whoa," said Fox, wide-eyed.

James then turned to Marth and Roy, aiming his pistol at them. They both held their hands up high. "Okay, somebody better start talking."

Marth sighed. Looks like it was all over for them. "Andross has been here this whole time. O'Donnell gave him this place to hide."

James was confused. "O'Donnell gave away Andross' position, four years ago. Why would he let him stay here after that?"

"Well, he's Andross," he said. "Slipped him a magic potion that left him completely brainwashed."

"He's been here this whole time," James repeated to himself, chastising himself and Corneria for trusting O'Donnell too much.

"Well, not the _whole _time," said Roy. "He's also been on Papetoon, Eladard, Corneria, Titania, Zoness..."

"Shut it, Roy."

"You two, come with us. And bring us O'Donnell. We're taking all of you back to Corneria. This'll be a day of celebration for everybody."

His PDA started to ring, which he answered. Pepper showed up on the video screen.

"_James, did you deliver the trade yet?"_

"Yes, I did, and I also captured Andross. I'll see you later."

_"Wait, what?!" _


	20. Exiled

**Exiled**

* * *

Note: I've just finished the first chapter of the next story I'm writing. Just... letting you know...

* * *

_Corneria_

Pandemonium and chaos cluttered the streets of Corneria City. Crowds and crowds of angry mobs came filling in, blocking traffic everywhere. Every citizen, from the seniors down to the youngest child, flocked outside just to get a glimpse of him stepping outside of the transport at the Naval Base. It was strange to think that the Lylat System's most feared and powerful man would be captured and sent here by a trade delivery ship, but there he was.

James led the group out, with Andross in handcuffs and surrounded by the soldiers. Marth, Roy, and O'Donnell were also led out in handcuffs, though nobody was really watching them. Andross stumbled over himself as he tried to follow James to wherever he was going. What was happening right now, he didn't know. His memory had become hazy and somehow he couldn't remember a thing that had happened yesterday.

What he did remember was working on his final potion downstairs in his room. He's been down there for four years, modifying it in some way. In what way he was modifying it, he didn't remember. There must have been some reason for it; he couldn't have just spent the last four years doing absolutely nothing. He tried his hardest to remember as the Cornerian soldiers escorted him inside.

General Pepper looked at Andross as James strapped him down to a chair. Andross was clean-shaven for the first time in almost eighteen years. Underneath all of that hair and fuzz, there was an extremely deformed monstrosity of a face. Add to that Andross' purple and orange eyes, his rotted teeth, and his anorexic figure, and you have quite possibly the ugliest man who has ever existed. However, there was a certain familiarity in his appearance that Pepper couldn't quite put his finger on.

"How many Medal of Honors do you want, James?" asked Pepper.

James smiled. "You don't have to give me one; this was just out of chance."

"Well, well, well… I've waited almost my entire life for this to happen. Finally, the people of Corneria can live in peace."

Andross was barely even listening. All he tried to think of were his memories, which stopped right at the moment when he first revealed himself on Channel 7. Before that… nothing. He didn't understand it. Where was his childhood? Who the hell was he? It didn't matter anymore anyway. His life was basically over.

"**Are you going to kill me?"  
**

"I would like to," said Pepper. "But that would be too easy. I'm exiling you to the planet of Venom…"

Andross looked up at him, a shocked look in his face… and a hint of fear, James saw.

"…for you to think of what you've done to Corneria… to Katina, to Fichina, to the entire Lylat System. How you've taken the lives of countless innocent people who didn't deserve it. How the Lylat System will never again have to deal with the fear and anxiety of your ever-lingering presence."

_Damn… _thought James.

As the soldiers grabbed Andross from his chair and dragged him to the hangar, Andross remained completely silent. He didn't try to fight them off as they threw him inside the ship taking him to Venom. He didn't care anymore. It was all a game to him, he remembered saying, and he just lost. Only difference was, there was no reset button.

* * *

_Downtown_

That same night was a night of celebration for the Cornerians. There wasn't one place in the entire planet where people weren't celebrating their hearts out. There was an especially wild party going on downtown, where everybody just completely drowned themselves in alcoholic beverages. James watched in amusement, seeing many of his own soldiers go crazy. One particularly embarrassing image was Plant and Daltrey belting out a loud, incoherent tune from the top of a bench with Page was sitting below them, playing his guitar and crying at the same time while Moon periodically poured beer into his mouth; just as long nobody knew they were _his _soldiers, it was fine.

It was somewhat of a surreal experience for everyone. The fact that Andross is really gone still hasn't really been realized. James didn't exactly join in on the partying, but he couldn't help smiling, wondering how life would be from now on. Sure there'd still be trouble; you can't help that. But it'll be much easier to live without the fear of whatever Andross was going to do. He couldn't imagine all of the things that he was _planning _to do, that he now doesn't have a chance to, thankfully. He imagined the Lylat System will be a much more peaceful place from now on.

* * *

_Venom_

The air hit Andross immediately as the pod doors opened. He gagged, falling to the ground. The smell was unlike anything he's ever experienced. Sweat poured down his face; his entire body was already drenched. He's been on this planet for only a second, and already it's torturing him. He tried to pick himself up, but fell to the ground again from sheer exhaustion. How in the hell was he supposed to live _here? _No human being could ever survive in a place like this. _Exactly, _he thought.

He laid himself down on the ground; no use trying to go anywhere. Looking up, he saw bright green clouds covering the sky with rays of light shining through. It was kinda pretty in a weird way. The soil underneath him was damp and soft, yet you could tell that it wasn't good for growing anything. This place wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for the heat and the smell. The smell was indescribably bad; imagine you took a dead skunk, a bag of rotten eggs, and dog shit, then mixed them all up in a blender and poured it into a dead carcass of a whale, then left it sitting there. Then twenty years later, you decide to go up to it and take a big whiff. Yeah, that's what it was like.

He couldn't tell what the temperature was, but it was definitely one of the hottest places he's ever been to. Since nobody was around except for a few lizards, he found no use for his clothes anymore. He shed them off, only leaving his boxers; you know that feeling of how nobody's around, yet you still feel uncomfortable being naked. In case he needed them, he kept them in his sack, the one thing they provided him with. He definitely felt a lot more comfortable and decided to explore the environment.

There was nothing really around except for solid ground, although he couldn't really tell with all of the fog. The lizards were starting to annoy him; he couldn't see where he was going, and he found himself stepping on them. There had to be a lake or a stream somewhere around here, considering how wet the ground was; of course, he wasn't planning on drinking any of it. He felt around the ground to see where it was the wettest, then followed that path. He then found himself near the edge of a small river. The river itself didn't look so appetizing, but who cares? He jumped in, and the cold hit him immediately. It was quite a relief to be in this water, even though it was murky and green and looked like the kind of water you'd find in a public restaurant toilet.

In a moment of sheer incompetence, he cupped some in his hands and splashed it onto his face, his mouth wide open. Realizing what he just did, he spat it out and gagged. _Wait a second... _He cupped some more in his hands and slurped some into his mouth. Huh. This wasn't bad at all. He finished off the rest in his hands, then he walked out of the water and sat on the edge. From what he could tell, the water was okay to drink, so he could stay here for a while. Now all he needed to do was find food. No problem there.

He took one of the fatter lizards wandering around next to him and snapped it dead. He then took a bite out of it, nodding his head. He never thought raw lizard would taste so good.Maybe exile wouldn't be so bad after all.


	21. F the H and S and P Again

**Flattering the Hero**

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"_It's absolutely incredible," _said Brodie on the monitor. _"So what happened to O'Donnell?"_

"We're keeping him here for a while," said Pepper. "If he's still under the influence of that potion Andross gave him, there's no way we're sending him back to Macbeth."

"_Has anybody else talked to you about this?"_

"Like who?"

_"You know, like Caroso, Powalski, Black?"_

"Caroso gave me a nice little congratulations message earlier, but he's still staying neutral, and I respect that. Powalski is definitely still on Andross' side; I told you about the situation in Titania earlier. No word from Black yet. But I'm not telling them where I exiled Andross. I don't want them to go looking for him."

_"I don't think they would really want to go looking for him anyway, considering where he is,"_ said Brodie. _"I'm sure he'd be dead by now."_

"No, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Andross is full of surprises, as we know all too well. I'm willing to bet he's keeping himself alive somehow over there. But let me assure you, there's no way he's getting off that planet."

James walked into the room, his uniform dressed in many decorations. _"Hey, there he is! The hero of the Lylat System!" _exclaimed Brodie. James smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not a hero; I found him by accident," said James.

_"Well, yeah, but just the thought of it sounds pretty good, don't you think? Well, I'd better get going, Pepper."_

"Alright, talk to you later," said Pepper, turning off the monitor. "D Company ready, James?"

"Yep, Captain Hunt has his soldiers boarded. Where are they going again?"

"Titania. You've heard that Powalski still has POWs from the Lylat Wars that he hasn't released yet? D Company's going to get them back." Pepper sighed. "He's gone, yet there's still people out there carrying out his work." He sat down at his desk. "So how's the hero life treating you, James?"

James sighed. "How many times, Pepper? I'm not a..."

"Why not? Sure, you _found _him by accident. But from what I've heard from your soldiers (and your own son), your actions were no accident. You acted quickly and intelligently, and you ended up capturing the most powerful man in the Lylat System. Sounds like a hero to me."

"Well, I just don't like being too self-indulgent, that's all," James replied.

"I know. Some of us can't help it, but you have a real talent of being _too _modest."

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know."

"That's a good thing. There are those people who glorify themselves and think of themselves as better than everybody else, when they're not. You, on the other hand, seem to lower yourself below everybody else." Pepper turned around to look out from the window of his office. "You were always like that, even as a Private. You always seemed so unsure of yourself, always putting yourself down, never really sure whether you could accomplish anything. Now look where you are, James. You should be proud of yourself. I am. Edwards would be, too."

James was silent for a while, then nodded. "Thanks, Pepper."

* * *

_Up in the Sky_

James had disagreed with this before, but he finally gave into Fox's pestering. Now there they were, up in James' Arwing, flying over Corneria. He let Fox take control of the joystick while he handled acceleration and everything else. At first, Fox was a bit out of control and almost ran the Arwing into the ground, but he got the hang of it soon after and effortlessly cruised through the sky.

"Not bad," said James, smiling. "Compared to about ten minutes ago..."

"Your stomach still intact?" asked Fox.

James chuckled. "Hey, I've been through worse."

"Yeah, I know. I'm getting recognized all over school now because of you."

"Really? What did they say?"

"They're always asking me if all of the stories are true; I say of course. I hope you don't mind that I've... erm... 'fabricated' some minor aspects of the story..."

"Like what?"

"Well... there's the addition of the timed bomb that Andross had planted in the base and the hundreds of armed soldiers surrounding us..."

"There was no bomb, and everybody around us was scared out of their minds," said James. He almost said "scared shitless," but for obvious reasons he stopped himself.

"I know. Like I said, I've fabricated some minor aspects... you know, to spice up the story a bit."

"And just how did I manage to stop all of those armed soldiers by myself?" asked James curiously.

"With me," said Fox, smiling. "They wouldn't have the guts to harm a kid."

James laughed. "Well, at least your fabrications make some sort of logical sense."

"Of course. I didn't want to deviate _too _far from the original source material," said Fox. "You know, that was pretty cool what you did back there in Macbeth."

"Thanks."

"I've always heard about all of the things you've done from Peppy and the other guys, and I just could never imagine you doing any of that. Now I realize how much tail you actually kick."

"Are you flattering me just to get me to buy a Wii?"

"...Partially..."

James smiled. "I'll get it eventually, don't worry."

Fox grinned. "Alright. But Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant it. I really did."

* * *

**Searching and Planning Again**

* * *

_Venom_

Andross didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than two weeks. His facial hair was starting to come back a bit. His potion should be working right now, but he's not feeling the effects yet. Another couple of years, and the potion should have its full effect; along with the radiation of the planet, it'll be interesting to see just what the full effect is going to be. In the meantime, he has to find some way to contact his allies, if he even has any anymore. There had to be inhabitants on this planet at one time or another; Venom hadn't always been this polluted... has it?

He chewed on a dead lizard as he traveled along the river. It might lead him somewhere, maybe to a deserted town or something. He had been walking along for about a week, after he had spent the first week getting used to the planet. Now the weather didn't bother him so much, and the smell was like fresh air to him. He even put his shirt and pants back on (because, you know, the thought of Andross walking around the planet in his boxers while drinking green water and eating dead lizards is a bit too weird). So far, he hadn't found anything, but he kept going; there had to be something.

The fog was starting to let up a bit although it was still hard to see from afar. However, he could see the faint outlines of small houses in the distance; finally, he found something! He tossed the lizard bones in his hand away and started running towards the houses. They started coming into view, and what he saw was a bit disappointing, but it was still something nonetheless. The town was large and deserted, as expected, but also in complete ruins. It was as if this place had been bombed sometime ago. Maybe he could find something of value around here.

He walked inside one of the houses, seeing nothing but rubble. He dug around and searched everywhere for something, but there wasn't much except for the body of what appeared to be a woman buried underneath; her skin had almost disintegrated completely. Over at the next house, he found more dead bodies. This time, of a family who had huddled together in order to protect themselves. What the hell happened to this planet? There was absolutely nothing in the third house except for a burned out newspaper from a while ago. He picked it up and could barely read the headline: _**Thirty-nine people killed in shootout in downtown Corneria. Dr. Bowman arrested. **_He tossed it aside, not really thinking much of it. _Wonder who that Bowman character was..._

Giving up on the houses, he walked out and took another look at the town. Look at this place; it was unlikely that anything survived in this place. With almost all of his hope lost, he picked up another lizard and started to chew on it in frustration, when he spotted a small flash of light in the sky. Was that a ship? No, it couldn't be; nobody would ever come here. The light started to get bigger, almost as if it was coming towards him. It _was _a ship!

A small aircraft descended to the ground, landing just outside the town near the river. Andross ran up to it, wondering who it could be. The door opened up, and a chameleon walked out.

"**Powalski?" **squeaked Andross, not having used his voice in a long time.

"Had to check up on how you were doing," said Powalski. "Nice place you have here."

"**Bit of a fixer-upper," **said Andross, chewing. **"Lizard?"**

"Uh, no thanks..."

"**So how did you find me here?" **

"Pigma told me. He also told me how you got here. Some potion, eh?"

Andross nodded. **"Well, you'll see the effects in a few years or so. Trust me, you'll see where all that time had been spent. So how did you get here without the Cornerians finding out?"**

"Remember the POWs that I still have from the Lylat Wars? I'm using them as a distraction. They're trying to get them back right at this moment."

"**You've come a long way since you stabbed your eye out," **remarked Andross. **"Okay, look. I have an idea, but I need a lot of supplies. I'm talking everything in my lab. I also need weapons, vehicles..."**

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Just what exactly are you planning to do?" asked Powalski.

"**You see these lizards crawling around? There's not one place in this planet where you don't see lizards crawling around." **

Powalski nodded. "Yeah, so..." He paused for a minute. "Oh... I see..."

Andross smiled. **"Yep. It'll take a while, but I'm sure I can get it done. Get O'Donnell and Pigma in on it if you can."**

"They have O'Donnell in custody, but I'll see what I can do. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"**Come on. It's me you're talking about..."**


	22. A Montage of Five Years

**A Montage of Five Years**

* * *

_Year One_

_504 West 84th Street_

"You know what I hate about the school bathrooms?" asked Slippy. "The sinks."

"What about them?" asked Fox.

"Like why can't we have regular faucets, you know, like the normal twist-it-on, twist-it-off style faucets? Is that too risky for us? Whose idea was it to install the one-handed, spring-loaded, pain-in-the-butt, Alcatraz-style faucets that stay on for like a second?"

"I don't see anything wrong with it," said Falco. "And what's Alcatraz?"

"They have those faucets everywhere," said Fox. "The motion-sensor ones do the same thing, what's the difference?"

"What I'm saying is, why can't we have regular faucets in public restrooms? Do they seriously think there's going to be grown men turning them all on full blast, running out into the parking lot, laughing, pushing each other into the bushes?"

Fox shrugged. "You never know with some people."

"I'd like to see that one day," said Slippy, rolling his eyes. "'Hey, I've got the water on! Let's go, run! Before they catch us!' 'Hey, what are you doing, we're gonna miss our business meeting...' 'I don't care! WATER!!'"

Martha Lombardi came up to the kids with a plate of watermelons. "What are you boys talking about?"

"Mrs. Lombardi, don't you find public restaurant faucets really annoying? You think they should just replace them all with regular faucets?"

"You think quite a bit for somebody your age," said Martha, smiling and walking away.

Slippy shrugged in modesty while Fox grabbed a watermelon.

Martha walked back into the living room. "Oh yeah, Fox, I forgot to tell you. Your father called, he said he'll be a little late."

"Why?"

"He's at the base right now. He has to assign a mission of some sort; he'll only be a little late."

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"D Company hasn't reported back in two weeks," said James to Pigma and Peppy. "I need somebody to go over there and see what's going on."

"By themselves?" asked Peppy.

"Pepper doesn't want Titania to think we want another war. We just need to find out what happened, that's all."

"I'll go over there," said Pigma. Peppy looked surprised.

"You sure about that? Remember what happened last time you were there?"

"I'll be fine. I know what to expect now. Besides, you guys have been getting all of the action; I haven't done jack shit. Let me make it up."

James nodded. "Alright. You'll be going out on your Arwing; try to keep it and yourself out of sight. You sure you'll be okay?"

Pigma shrugged. "No problem."

* * *

_Titania_

No problem indeed. There was no need for Pigma to stay out of sight at all; everybody knew who he was. At the sight of his Arwing, the air space patrol let him in. It seemed that Powalski was expecting him. He flew down to the surface, where he felt the heat immediately. He turned up his air conditioning as he descended. Down at the base, he saw only a modest amount of security there. He touched down on the landing pad, blowing dust and sand underneath him. Bracing himself for the extreme heat outside, he opened the cockpit window and climbed out. One guard came out to salute him.

"Nice to have you here, sir," said the guard.

"I can't say the same," muttered Pigma, shielding his eyes from the light. "I'm aware that you still have Corneria's POWs?"

"And the company that came to rescue them. We'll hand them to you in a moment, sir."

"So what's the point of all this? Where's Powalski?"

"Venom," replied the guard.

"Oh, I see. This is just a distraction."

"Yep. Powalski wanted me to inform you that Andross is planning something big, and he wants you to be a part of it, sir."

"You know, Andross had me in a choke hold with a gun pointed at my head the last time I saw him. Why should I trust him now?" asked Pigma.

"Well, Andross won't be happy to hear that when I report back to him, sir," said the guard.

"Good point... So what does he want me to do?" The guard gave him a list of Andross' requests which Powalski sent over. "I see he's as needy as ever."

"He also wants you to, if you can, find a way to get O'Donnell out of Cornerian custody."

"And by 'if you can', he means, 'you'd better do it, or I'll rip your throat out.'"

"Basically, sir. He wants it done within the next two months."

Pigma sighed. "Well, I guess I'm back in. Now there's the matter of staging my rescue..."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Well, I can't exactly just waltz up to their prison cells and free them, can I? They'll get suspicious. Here's what we'll do..."

* * *

_Three days later..._

_Corneria_

"You got all of them out without any casualties?" asked James. "There was a whole army right behind you!"

"It was incredible," said Pigma, shrugging. "I've never felt so lucky. But I didn't do it myself. D Company helped out too."

"Yeah, right after you got us out," said Captain Hunt, smiling. "We all owe you, Lt."

"Well, it'll be Cpt. from now on," said James.

Pigma feigned shock and surprise. "Y... you serious?"

James nodded. "I'm sure Pepper won't let this go unnoticed. You'll be seeing a lot of awards coming your way, I'm sure."

"Well... I did my best..."

* * *

_Two weeks later..._

_Cornerian Rehab Center_

O'Donnell paced around inside his room, as he had been doing for the past year or so. What good was it keeping him here? Andross was gone, and he has no idea where he is, so what the hell is he going to do? He wondered how Macbeth was doing without him; probably much better now, but that's not the point. Most of all, he thought about his son. How dare they take his son away from him! Sure, Wolf was just a product of a night out drinking, but still!

"O'Donnell!" yelled the guard from outside. "You have a visitor."

Pigma walked into the room, a sense of familiarity filling him up. The guard closed the door behind him and locked it up. "How are you doing, Mr. O'Donnell?" asked Pigma, putting on a show for the camera.

"Oh... just fine," replied O'Donnell, playing along. "Coming to check up on me?"

"Yep. General Pepper wanted to see how you are doing here."

"Well... I'm feeling much better now."

"I'm sure you are. Still, I'm not sure whether I should trust you or not, what with that potion and all."

"What potion?"

"Don't play dumb. You know what potion."

"Look, Andross is long gone now. I have no alliance with him at all. I don't even know where he is."

"Not a lot of people do; that's classified information. Information that's too delicate for people like you to be around." Pigma turned away from the camera, smiling at O'Donnell, who decided to take it to another level.

"I'm telling you!" shouted O'Donnell, jumping from his chair. "I'm no longer under Andross' wing! I hate him! I fucking hate him!"

Pigma tried to stifle his laughter. "Whose side are you on, then?"

"Corneria, of course. I have no one else to trust. Please... let me go back to Macbeth... Let me see my son again..."

"That's not my decision to make, O'Donnell. I'll have to talk to Pepper. For now, you stay here..." Pigma took his cell phone from his pocket to look at the time, dropping a paper clip onto the floor. "I'll be back to relay his response to you." He then walked to the door and knocked on it to tell the guard to let him out. He turned to O'Donnell. _Nice job, _he mouthed.

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"I don't know..." said Pepper, looking at the video footage. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure what to think," replied Pigma. "He seems fine to me. Then again..."

"That potion. Well... I think it's best if we keep him. Can't be too trusting."

Pigma nodded. "I agree." _You bastard..._

* * *

_Macbeth_

"Pepper is going to have a field day when he finds out about this," said Pigma to O'Donnell in the back seat of his ship.

"I'll stay in Venom," replied O'Donnell. "After I get the supplies for Andross here."

"Alright. Hey, is Andross' army still here too?"

"They should be. They've all blended in with the crowd."

"He'll love that. Hurry up and get out, I have to be back by morning..."

* * *

_Year Two_

_Venom_

"**Ahh, more soldiers to go along with the soldiers I'm making."**

"So what exactly_ are _you doing here?" asked O'Donnell, sprawled on the side of the river, suffering from the severe climate.

"**Well, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine," **replied Andross, walking into one of the houses in the town. He came back outside, with him an extremely large lizard walking on two legs. O'Donnell shot up upon seeing this abomination.

"What... the fuck is that?"

**"What you see here is the first of my soon-to-be many super soldiers. And now that you've brought my other soldiers here, I'll get my work done faster."**

"Well... glad I could help. Anything else I could do?"

**"You're wanted in half the Lylat System, I'm not going to let you become a liability for me. No, you're going to stay here and help me out."**

"I hate it here!" shouted Wolf, who was soaking his body in the river. "I want to go back to Macbeth!"

"Shut up, Wolf!" O'Donnell shouted back. "God, I fucking hate that kid..."

"**Nice family..." **remarked Andross.

* * *

_Year Three_

_Corneria City Elementary School_

"Listen, I'm not saying that WALL-E _wasn't _a good movie," said Fox, getting his stuff from his locker. "It's just that I think that Pixar has done better."

"Yeah, like how?" asked Slippy, following Fox as he closed his locker and headed off to the classroom. "In my opinion, WALL-E is Pixar's finest achievement. Seriously, the fact that they can make a convincing love story out of two almost-mute robots is just incredible. I'm man enough to admit that I cried at the end."

"It's a great movie," agreed Fox. "Just... not as great as Finding Nemo, that's all."

"Ah, Finding Nemo. I grew tired of that movie years ago. I like how Pixar is getting more intelligent with their movies. I just hope they don't mess up Toy Story 3."

"You do know that these movies were made like a thousand years ago, and they're just releasing them according to a schedule, right?"

"Yeah, but it's easier to refer to them as if they were being made now. Hey, we'd better hurry up, we're gonna be late."

"I wonder how much money a person gets paid picking out dates to release Earth movies and TV shows. And where do they keep them? It must be hard keeping all of those files away from bootleggers."

"I'll bet. You know what I found on the Internet a week ago?"

"What?"

Slippy stopped him before entering the classroom. "I shouldn't even be telling you this..."

"What? What did you find?"

"...The last Pokémon episode. They're airing it two years from now."

Fox gaped at him. "Are you serious?! What happens?"

"No, I'm not telling you! I don't want to spoil it..."

"Come on! You have to show it to me afterwards!"

"Look, can we talk about this later? The bell's about to ring..."

* * *

_Year Four_

_Venom_

"Powalski called," said O'Donnell. "He's bringing over one of each type of vehicle he has; doesn't want anybody to get too suspicious."

**"Fine then," **said Andross. **"We have plenty of time. I just want to make sure I time this right."**

"For what?"

**"Once we're done building up, we'll let Corneria come to us. By that time..."**

"What?"

**"My potion should take full effect."**

"What is this final potion I keep hearing about?" asked O'Donnell. "You've worked so long on it, and it's taking almost as long to take effect. What's so special about it?"

Andross smiled. **"Well, I don't want to spoil it for you..."**

* * *

_Year Five_

_309 Lake Side Rd._

"Huh..."

"What?" asked Slippy, turning off the TV.

"I wasn't... really expecting _that..._" replied Fox slowly.

"Yeah... Exactly what I was thinking."

"Seems really surreal. Twenty years of being on the air... and they end it like _that..._"

"It wasn't a _bad _ending... Just... unexpected."

Fox got up from the couch, shaking his head. "Well... I guess that's it then. The show's finally over."

"Hard to believe, huh? I think they ended it on a high note. And we'll still have the video games and the cards."

"Yeah... but still..."

* * *

_Coffee Shop_

Taking a break from work, James, Peppy, and Pigma decided to go to a coffee shop for lunch. James wasn't too hungry, so he only ordered coffee; Peppy and Pigma, on the other hand, were scarfing down food like it was nobody's business.

"We haven't had this in a while," said James.

"I've been drinking coffee since I was fifteen, Jimmy," said Peppy.

"No, I mean... just the three of us sitting down... having lunch together... We haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah... we used to do that all the time. Remember, back when we were still in the police force?" asked Pigma.

"Such a long time ago," reflected Peppy. "More than twelve years, I think."

"Jeez, it _has _been a long time," replied Pigma. "Time is just flying by."

"Believe me, I know," said James. "Seems like only yesterday when I was holding Fox in my arms."

"From the way Fox is looking now, he can probably hold _you _in his arms," said Pigma.

James laughed. "I know, he's getting so strong."

"You're really lucky, Jimmy, you know that? Despite everything that's happened to you, you're a really lucky guy," said Peppy.

"Thanks," replied James.

Talking to these guys again had stirred up something in Pigma. He wasn't sure what it was, but Pigma was feeling the slightest emotional tug in the pit of his stomach. Was he feeling regret from everything he had done? Was he wishing that Andross had never spiked his water canteen? That it could be somebody else in his position now? Was he longing for the good old days? He needed to stop this. It was too late for him. He can't turn back time.

"Alright, if we can stop playing soap opera, I'm going to order myself another cup," said Pigma abruptly.

Peppy grinned. "So unsentimental."


	23. Beginning of the End

**Beginning of the End**

* * *

_Venom_

"**Look at them," **said Andross, staring at his fairly modest army of ten thousand soldiers. **"Aren't they disgusting?"  
**

Powalski nodded in agreement. "You've outdone yourself."

"**And this doesn't even count the forty million more I still have cooking up down below. I never thought Venom could ever hold an army this large. Sure, it's not **_**quite **_**as big as Corneria's air force, but it's still impressive, don't you think?"**

"So now what?"

**"Now what? I'll provoke them into coming here somehow. I'll let them see how well I've been doing the past five years."**

"Alright. So how are you going to get them to come here?"

Andross suddenly jumped back, clutching his stomach. He let out a yell, his hands now inching towards his head.

"What's going on?!" yelled O'Donnell, running over to them.

"**That... potion's starting to kick in... It's not taking effect yet, it's just..." **He exhaled and collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily.

"So... my question..."

"**Well..." **he started, standing up. **"Does Pigma have the bomb ready?"**

"Yep. Planted downtown, just as you said," replied Powalski.

"**Alright. Well, I was thinking maybe a small-scale invasion on one of the smaller planets nearby. Say... Fortuna, maybe?"**

"There's a Cornerian Defense Force outpost there," said O'Donnell. "That'll be perfect."

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"Captain Saru's sending us a distress signal," said Beltino, looking at his computer and seeing a large red flash.

"Put him on the screen," ordered Pepper.

"I'm trying to, but it won't come through. I'll try to at least get the sound."

Beltino increased the signal, which picked up the faint sounds of violent warfare on the other end. Pepper froze. "Captain Saru! Can you hear me?" No answer. "Captain Saru!"

"What should we do?" asked Beltino.

* * *

_Apartment #207_

Fox sat at the kitchen table, already bored of his homework. He set it down to get something else to do in order to keep his sanity. Going over to the living room, he looked at the shelves that were stocked full of movies. Only a couple of books occupied the space. He's never really looked at these shelves before; he only ever looked at them to get a movie out. The drawers beneath were rarely ever opened. He decided to take a look inside, where he saw a lone photo album binder covered with dust. He blew the dust away and coughed before taking the binder out. It was quite big, but the family's never really been much of a photo taker, at least as far as he knew.

He opened it up, and the first picture he saw was of himself as a baby. There were six photos in each page, and the first couple of pages or so were just of him as a baby. He smiled at his infant self; he was quite a porker back then. He flipped to the next page and saw his mother. It looked like it was taken out downtown. She smiled a wide smile at the camera (and, in a way, at him), looking as happy as she could be. Fox paused at this photo for a moment, then looked down to see more photos. There were both of his parents, hugging, kissing, having the time of their lives. It was strange to see his father without his sunglasses and both eyes intact. Then there was the infant Fox along with them, cuddled up in blankets as they smiled upon him. The last photo he saw was his mother cradling him in her arms, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

He closed the binder up and placed it back into the drawer; this was too much sentimentality for him to take. Going back to the kitchen, he picked his pencil back up and started back up on his homework. But he wasn't exactly in the mood for fifth grade language arts right now. Well, he was never in the mood for fifth grade language arts to begin with, but that wasn't the point. The thought of his mother was tugging in the back of his head, which prevented him from doing anything.

He could barely even remember her. He only knew what she looked like, and that wasn't enough. He didn't know what her voice sounded like, what she was like when she was angry, what her favorite color was, or anything. It was strange; in the eight years since she had been gone, Fox had never really thought about this. He did, however, remember feeling an extreme amount of sadness when he heard the news. He remembered crying for the longest time, and he could remember his father crying on his shoulder on the hospital bed. A tear fell down Fox's cheek from thinking about this. He didn't bother to wipe it away as it trickled down his fur.

The telephone began to ring, but Fox didn't notice. It stopped ringing, and he could hear his father's voice from the other room talking to whoever, but it seemed distant and far. Then he saw his father walking into the kitchen, the phone still in his hand.

"Fox? That was the base, they need me."

This managed to get Fox's attention. He held back his tears to talk. "What for?"

"I don't know," said James, going back to the bedroom to get dressed in his uniform. "They just told me it was urgent."

"Like... how urgent?" asked Fox.

"Not sure. But from what I could tell from Pepper's voice, it sounds pretty damn urgent."

Fox sat back in his chair as he listened to his father get his things ready. Nothing "urgent" had happened in the last five years. There was O'Donnell escaping and the POWs, but that's it. Then something hit him. O'Donnell had escaped. Where would he go? To Andross? No, he didn't know where he was... did he? Something inside of him didn't sit right about all of this. His father had always been in situations like these and had always come back fine, but this time... No, he was going to be fine. He always comes back alive. He had to.

"You going to be fine by yourself?" asked James, walking over to the door to leave.

Fox nodded in reply. "Hey... Dad?"

"What is it?"

Fox paused for a minute, looking up at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

James looked at him, confused. "Fox... I'm kinda in a hurry right now..."

"But..."

"Look, whatever you're going to ask me, I'll answer it once I get back, alright? Which I'm sure will be sometime soon, okay? I promise."

He then walked out the door and shut it behind him, leaving Fox there by himself. He looked back down at his homework, which he'll do later. He'll ask him when he gets back. No problem. When he gets back...

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"Your Arwing is in the docking bay right now," said Pepper. "In the worst case scenario, call us for backup. I'm sorry I have to send you over there by yourself, but you never know. We could've just been hearing a severe weapons malfunction."

"Well, it'd be nice to have a _little _company..." replied James.

"Pepper!" Pepper turned around to see Peppy running up to him, with Pigma following behind.

"What is it, Cpt.?"

"I'm under the impression that James is going by himself on this mission?"

"Yes, that's correct, Cpt."

"Well sir, I, along with Cpt. Dengar here, would feel much better if we went along with him."

James looked at them, grinning.

"Are you sure?"

"We want to keep him under control, that's all," replied Pigma.

"Well... alright then. We'll bring your Arwings out as well. You'll leave in an hour."

* * *

_Fortuna_

"Well guys... I am really, _really, _glad you came along," said James, gaping at the sheer chaos going on down below. Fortuna was a very green planet, and for the most part, the nature was untouched. The only real disturbance was the Cornerian Defense Force outpost in the south end of the planet, and even they didn't do much. However, the environmental conservationists were going to be shitting bricks when they see what they did to this area. Most, if not all of the forests nearby the outpost were burning down as a modest amount of soldiers attacked it. The outpost itself didn't look too well either. It didn't stand a chance.

James led Peppy and Pigma down to the surface, where a small group of fighters started to attack. James chased down a couple of them while Peppy was being chased; the fighters seemed to be ignoring Pigma's Arwing, but James and Peppy were too busy to notice that.

"Guys, look, just give me a couple of shots," said Pigma to the fighters. "I can't come out of this _completely _unscathed."

After shooting down the last of them, James continued in a downward spiral towards the base. He could see a large group of... lizards?... leading their attack against the outpost soldiers. Where did these guys come from? "Guys, focus your attack on the lizards!"

Peppy came down on the left side, "sweeping" the area with laser fire. The lizards tried to displace, but Peppy was too fast for them. James fired a smart bomb, being careful not to fire it anywhere near the outpost. A nice geyser of lizard flesh and blood splattered the area. Pigma stayed around the sky, firing at random places. Again, James and Peppy were too busy to notice his lack of effort.

The Arwings managed to scare off the few survivors into the forests at least for now. James landed at the base, where the outpost soldiers peaked out of their hiding spots. Peppy and Pigma landed as James jumped from the cockpit. "It's alright, you can come out now!"

"Thanks for that, sir," said Cpt. Saru, who got up from his hiding spot, followed by hundreds of others. "I thought we were done for."

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw one lizard still trying to retreat. "Hey, you! Get back here!" he shouted. He sprinted towards the lizard, who was too slow and stupid for him, and tackled him to the ground. He took out his pistol and aimed it straight for his head. "Who sent you?"

"Fuck you," replied the lizard. James bashed him on the side of the head with his pistol.

"Let's try that again, shall we? Who sent you?"

The lizard, gasping in pain, looked over at Pigma, who was nodding at him. He looked back up at James. "An... Andross..."

James would've pissed his pants in fear of hearing that name twelve years ago. Now, however, he didn't find it surprising at all actually. "You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"

"No... of course not..."

"Anything else I should know?"

"He... has a..." The lizard looked at Pigma again, who was now shaking his head.

"A what? He has a what?" asked James, bringing the pistol closer to his face.

"A... a bomb... in Corneria City..."

James showed no emotion, but inside he was screaming in panic. "Alright, get up. Cpt. Saru? Take this lizard into your custody. Peppy, Pigma, come over here." Cpt. Saru went over to grab the lizard and dragged him back to the outpost.

"How did Andross get all of these guys?" asked Peppy.

"No matter. He probably has a lot more back on Venom. Call up Corneria, tell them about the bomb."

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

"You sure he didn't say anything else?" asked Pepper.

_"Nothing. All he said was that Andross was behind all of this and that the bomb was in the city. I tried to get the exact location out of him, but he said he didn't know," _said James from his PDA.

"I'm sure he doesn't..."

_"Well, he's not going to tell me any time soon if he does know. My 'persuasion' almost killed him."_

Pepper sighed. "We need to find that bomb. I'll conduct a search and have the city evacuated."

_"What if we don't find it in time?"_ asked James.

"We'll find it, James. Don't worry," Pepper assured, with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"_That answer doesn't work for me..."_

"What are you thinking of?"

James paused for a minute before replying. _"Get Banks, tell him to send the 12th over to Venom. I'll find out where the bomb is..."_

"Wait, James!" Pepper shouted, but James had already shut off his PDA. He sighed; now he was going to have to send backup. Going over there was suicide in the first place, but with the 12th, he might still have a chance. He sat back in his chair, barely able to contemplate just what Andross is planning to do. Then he started contemplating how he... could've stopped this. He could've had guards surround Venom; they would've rotated every week or so. He could've sent soldiers down there every month or so to check up on him. There was so much that he could've done, but he didn't. He was too sure of himself, too careless. Was he really fit for this leadership role? Did he deserve to command these people?


	24. Anxiety

**Anxiety**

* * *

_Venom_

James looked on at the polluted hellhole that was Venom, fiddling with his sunglasses. He couldn't possibly imagine what was down there, but they had to find the location of that bomb as soon as possible. Time could be running short.

"Alright, we can't wait for backup," said James. "Let's go."

They flew through the green clouds, barely able to see a thing. "Are your radars picking anything up?" asked Peppy.

"Yep. I'm guessing about ten thousand."

"Let's stay near the clouds," said Pigma. "And... how about radio silence?"

"Good idea. Andross might be tracking us," said James. "Just stick close to me."

Pigma wondered about what he just said as he switched off his radio. Let's stay near the clouds? Radio silence? Dammit, he was supposed to be _leading_ them towards danger, not telling them how to avoid it! He cringed as he looked at the ten thousand yellow dots on the radar. He hoped backup would come soon. Wait, what? That was supposed to be the _last _thing he'd hope for! Besides, Andross told the soldiers to avoid firing at him; he was completely safe. But no, he wasn't hoping for backup for his sake. It was for James and Peppy's sake.

_No... no... just don't think about... Just don't..._

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

Banks kept himself from cringing when he looked at the soldiers of the 12th getting ready for battle. They've all been out of action for years now, and to put them back into action after all this time made him worried. Not to mention they were going to Venom, the planet nobody in this place would ever want to visit. What would happen to them? Just breathing over there could very well kill them. But Andross could live there with no problem, and O'Donnell and Powalski were probably over there with him. Still, Beltino had everybody equipped with oxygen tanks that would, at the very least, make everybody feel better.

* * *

_Venom_

James touched down in an area with very little security. He quietly took out a few soldiers down below doing so. Peppy took care of the remaining soldiers in the area before they could call for backup; Pigma did nothing. Waiting for the both of them to land, James opened up his cockpit window to test the air, closing it almost immediately afterward. Just a few seconds whiff of that, and he almost gagged! Luckily, the Arwings were equipped with spare oxygen tanks; after James' little incident almost ten years before, they couldn't be too safe.

He slipped on the gas mask and wore the tank like a backpack. That was the one problem with these things; they were extremely vulnerable. He opened up the cockpit door, and while he could breathe now, it was still an oven outside; however, he thought Titania was hotter. Peppy and Pigma both climbed out of their Arwings with the tanks on soon after.

"How long do these things last?" asked Peppy, the sound of his voice coming through the radio. It was the only way they could hear each other through these masks.

"Beltino said at least two days," answered James.

"Still, let's make it last as long as we can, okay?" suggested Pigma, much to his own surprise. James and Peppy nodded in agreement. Pigma knew they wouldn't be able to survive without these on. Andross could survive because his earlier experimentation had an effect on his immune system. Powalski and O'Donnell could survive because Andross gave them injections; Powalski was sick almost to the point of death for the first few weeks he was here because Andross didn't have it ready yet. But a regular Cornerian was completely vulnerable to the air. Now how about the entire 12th Infantry?

He shook his head, trying to get these thoughts to stop. "Pigma? Something wrong?" asked Peppy.

"No... just this damn heat, that's all," replied Pigma, grimacing. Why did he have to feel regret of everything he had done _now,_ when everything was falling into place?

* * *

_Cornerian Flagship_

_"Thirty minutes to arrival," _said ROB on the intercom. Everybody in the ship had a look of dread on their face whenever ROB would tell them how much time was left. It wasn't as if ROB really even thought about that; robots don't feel, after all, outside of a Pixar movie.

Docked inside the flagship was the Great Fox, where A Company was waiting. They really didn't know what to think of this situation; Andross comes back after five years, and they have to fight whatever he has cooking over at Venom. Not only that, but they have no leadership role. Cpt. Hare and Cpt. Dengar were already over there with Maj. McCloud, so who was going to lead them? They had a few Lt.'s, sure, but even they knew that none of them could lead the company half as well as those three could. Well, at least, Cpt. Hare and Maj. McCloud. Most of them were never too sure of Cpt. Dengar.

"I mean, he was never around," said Plant. "Where was he when we were fighting for Katina? Where was he when we had to deal with Cpt. Reynolds on Fichina?"

"He was with the crew that captured Andross," said Page, shrugging.

Moon scoffed. "I was there too; that was all the Major, man. None of us did jack shit. Hell, even his son did more than us, and he was five years old at the time!"

"He actually had the guts to talk to Andross, even when he had a gun in his hand," remarked Daltrey. "I'm telling you, that kid's going to be just like his dad when he grows up."

Plant strolled around the living area, heavily thinking of something. He paused to look at Morgan. "Hey, you told us that Dengar asked for the bathroom, and those captains led him downstairs? And that a few minutes later, Andross comes out with him in a headlock, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, the guy looked like a fucking animal..." said Morgan. "...No offense to all of you..." he quickly added.

"None taken," replied Monroe, rolling his eyes.

"But you see what I'm saying here? Andross was down there for four years, right? Now Dengar asks for the bathroom; why would they lead him down there, huh?"

"Andross needed a hostage," replied Moon. "Simple as that."

"But you guys said that a few minutes went by. I don't know about you, but if I walked into a bathroom, and I happened to see Andross, I'd be so scared shitless, he'd capture me within a second."

"Maybe Dengar tried to fight him off," suggested Barrett.

"Well... he didn't look too beat up when Andross brought him upstairs," said Daltrey, contemplating at what this could mean.

There was a moment of silence as everybody took this in. "Wait... wait a minute..." said Page to break the silence, getting up. "Are you trying to say that Cpt. Dengar's on Andross' side, and that whole hostage scene was faked?"

"I didn't say that," said Plant.

"But that's what you're implying."

"Look, I'm not sure, alright? I never liked Dengar, anyway. I accepted him as a leader as much as I accepted Reynolds."

"Dengar's old friends with the Cpt. and the Maj.! Why would he drop all of that and join Andross?"

"You hear of that potion Andross gave to O'Donnell? He could've given it to Dengar at some point," said Plant, to which Page responded with an unsure look. "Hey, remember, this is all pure speculation on my part. I have no proof of this."

"Well, let's just drop the subject then," said Page, sitting back down. "I already have a lot on my mind. We all do, I'm sure, considering where we're going."

"Hey, what do you think he has over there?" asked Barrett.

"I don't want to think about it," said Plant. He looked over at Gilmore, who was sitting on the floor, just listening. "You've been pretty quiet, what do you think?"

Gilmore looked up at him. "I don't know."

"Well, no shit. Nobody knows. What do you _think?"_

"Well... considering Andross' past track record, I think he has another army brewing up down there," he said.

"Hell, that's all you got?" asked Plant. "He's on _Venom_, the scariest place imaginable. Who knows what sorts of terrifying shit he found down there? And all of the experimentation he must be doing..."

Daltrey sighed. "Alright, you can stop right there, Plant. You're scaring the new recruits."

Plant looked over at the newly recruited privates, who all looked as if they were about to explode in fear. "What a way to start off your army career, eh?"

* * *

_Venom_

Andross waited in the town, leaning his back against a wall of a building. Powalski could see that Andross was anxious about something, but what it was, he couldn't tell.** "Is everybody in position?" **asked Andross.

"Yes, they've all reported back," said Powalski. "Cornerians should be on their way n-"

Andross suddenly lurched back, giving a sudden gasp of pain. He clutched his stomach, the veins in his arms pulsating.

"Andross? Is it... happening?"

**"Well... it's definitely starting!" **shouted Andross, falling to the ground, facing away from Powalski. He coughed and spat at the ground, his head feeling heavy. It felt as if every organ and tissue in his body was boiling and bubbling. The sensation went on for another two minutes, although it felt like a fucking hour. He got up from the floor, feeling woozy. **"Oh man..."**

"So... you okay now?" asked Powalski.

Andross turned to answer him, his appearance making Powalski almost jump out of his skin. The veins in Andross' arms were pulsating wildly, almost as if he had taken multiple shots of heroin in a row. His purple and orange eyes had become larger, and his cheeks had become hairier.

**"I... guess so..."  
**

"Is it done?"

Andross coughing up phlegm and his entire body violently convulsing again gave Powalski his answer. **"No! Definitely... not!"**

Powalski didn't know what to do with this situation. Here Andross was, spasmodically moving about on the ground, and he couldn't do anything about it. It was quite an awkward scene, really. And to push this scene to a whole 'nother level of bizarre, Powalski saw that Andross was _growing!_ His hands and his head especially were proliferating wildly.

"Um... O'Donnell? Come here, quick!"

"What is... it...?" O'Donnell gaped at the sight.

"What the fuck do we do?!"

**"Nothing! Just... stay away!" **Andross groaned. Huge veins in his hands boiled, almost as if they were about to pop out. The skin around his neck started to split, gushing blood down his body.

"Holy shit! Are you sure about this?!"

Andross picked himself up and smiled, despite the extreme amount of pain he was feeling right now. **"When _haven't _I been sure of anything?" **he gasped. At that moment, he let out a huge cry as he jerked straight up, holding his head up high, his arms out straight. His wrists started to split open, spilling more blood onto the ground. O'Donnell and Powalski couldn't bear to look at this any longer and shut their eyes to avoid looking at this gory phenomenon. Andross' scream pierced their ears for another five minutes until suddenly, it stopped.

Powalski and O'Donnell opened their eyes to see Andross' body, sans head and hands, laying on the ground. His blood seeped into the ground as they walked towards the body slowly. Powalski blubbered at the sight. "He... he's dead! He killed himself!"

"Um... Powalski?" O'Donnell said slowly, looking up.

"What is it?" he asked, looking to see what O'Donnell was looking at. His mouth dropped as he beheld what was above him. "Oh... my... lord..."


	25. Betrayal

**Betrayal  
**

* * *

_Venom_

The Great Fox arrived on the planet first, with ROB back in the pilot seat. He waited on opening the docking bay doors until the soldiers had their equipment and gas masks ready. _"I will wait here," _said ROB.

"Right," replied Daltrey. The company had decided by vote that Daltrey should be the leader. He wasn't particularly happy with the decision, but was flattered that they thought he was suitable for the job. Gilmore would lead the nine remaining Arwings, including himself, that would patrol the skies. The eight Arwing positions filled out quite rapidly. As he walked out with his platoon, he realized why as he heard groans and complaints from many of the soldiers over how hot it was.

"Goddamn, this is horrible!" shouted Plant. "Who the hell can live through this?!"

"Some role model you're being," said Page sarcastically.

"Alright, come on. You all have your PDAs?" asked Daltrey, to which the other two Lt.'s nodded. "Okay then, let's go. The rest of the 12th is landing."

They had picked a spot where there weren't too many targets around, although it was extremely hard to see within ten feet in front of them anyway. "Can anybody reach Maj. McCloud? I'm trying to get a signal through."

"The call's going through, but he won't answer," said Plant. "You think something happened?"

"I really hope n- wait..." Page paused and held his PDA up to his ear. "I think I hear something..."

"Yeah, me too," said Plant. Loud, distorted cackles of sound were suddenly coming through every one of their PDAs. It just barely resembled a voice, but they could still decipher what it was saying.

_"A...yone... ca... yon... ...ear me? We...eing... mbus..! I re...at..! .. re bei... am...shed!"_

* * *

_Near A River_

James put away his PDA, firing his weapon randomly where the shots were coming from. He, Peppy and Pigma took cover laying face down near the bank of the river, keeping his head down. The shots literally came from nowhere, since the fog screwed up their field of vision. "I can't see a damn thing!"

"Did anybody respond?!" yelled Peppy over the gunfire.

"No! I don't think it was coming through!"

"Well, great! Now what do we do?"

They could see hazy figures protruding through the fog. The figures advanced closer and closer towards their position until James could see the lizards clearly, holding their rifles up against him. There were about fifteen of them; there was no way they could possibly fight out of this. He slowly put his weapon down and stood up, hands above his head. Peppy and Pigma did the same.

"You're all they sent?" said one of the larger lizards. He scoffed and motioned them to follow him.

James showed no visible emotion in his face as he followed the lizard along the river, but in his mind, all he could think was _God, are we fucked..._

* * *

_Town_

Powalski nudged at O'Donnell, pointing at the lizard soldiers who held James, Peppy, and Pigma captive. They walked up to the both of them and saluted them, to which O'Donnell said, "At ease."

"Nice of you to drop by," Powalski said to the Cornerians. "So you're all they sent? What a disappointment."

O'Donnell hadn't even noticed James' presence until he caught sight of the sunglasses. "James McCloud? I always seem to run into you."

"Lucky me..."

"And how's the wife, may I ask?"

James tried his best to keep in his anger to avoid being shot on sight. He didn't even bother to silence his PDA. _"Maj. McCloud? Can you hear me? Maj.! Backup's on the way!"_

"So you _do _have more coming," said Powalski. "Well, let's give them a nice welcome, shall we?"

"Units, get into position," said O'Donnell into his radio. "We have company." He put his radio away and looked at his captives again.

"What are you going to do to us?" asked Pigma.

"Okay Dengar, you can drop the act now," said Powalski, to which O'Donnell smiled widely.

"What?" asked Peppy, looking over at Pigma, who was sweating bullets.

"Um..."

"What are they talking about?" asked James.

"I... I uh..."

"Allow us to explain," said O'Donnell. "For the past eleven years or so, your friend Pigma has been deceiving you this whole time..."

"Yeah, he decided that Corneria just wasn't for him, so he joined our side. He's been part of everything: the invasion of Katina, the Fichina takeover. He was there."

James and Peppy were silent, stunned at this bit of information while Pigma felt too ashamed to even defend himself.

"That... that can't be true..." said Peppy.

"Oh yes it can," said Powalski. "How do you explain his little mental breakdown on Titania back in the Lylat Wars? It definitely wasn't the heat. You thought he was in the nuthouse that whole time, but no. He was by Andross' side all along."

"You don't understand!" shouted Pigma, finally getting the sense to try to explain himself. "Andross drugged me with the same potion he drugged O'Donnell with!"

"You do know that potion only lasts five years, right?" asked Powalski.

Now Pigma was stunned. "What?"

"Yeah. You could have stopped a long time ago. Andross wanted to see just how long you would stay by his side under your own influence, and for some reason, you kept on going. That says something about your character, doesn't it?"

"And McCloud... would you like to know who it was exactly that shot your wife?" asked O'Donnell.

"Oh, now we're taking it a bit too far," said Powalski, holding in his laughter.

James slowly looked over at Pigma, a number of emotions overcoming him: sadness, betrayal, anger, the sudden desire to rip Pigma's throat out. He lashed out at the swine, tackling him to the ground. He ripped off Pigma's oxygen mask as he started to wail on him, just as he did eight years ago. Peppy looked on, wishing he could do the same. O'Donnell motioned for the soldiers to get a hold of James, who had managed to deliver several punches.

"I'm sorry, but I had to tell the truth," said O'Donnell, smiling.

"No... don't be sorry," growled James, prying his arms out of the soldiers' grips. "I'm glad you told me."

"Well then. Why don't we take you to your cell now? We'll leave you to your thoughts." Powalski led the two emotionally shaken Cornerians to the prison cells, with the lizard soldiers following behind. O'Donnell watched as they left, then looked down at Pigma, who got up from the ground. His snout was pouring blood.

"So whose side _are _you on?"

Pigma groaned, wiping the blood off his face. He picked his oxygen mask and tank back up and slipped them on. "Andross'. Who else's?"

O'Donnell smirked. "Be glad McCloud didn't hear that." He walked away to follow the others, leaving Pigma there alone.

_He bought it... _

* * *

_About Fifty Miles Away_

The 12th Infantry had split up so they could cover more terrain. They were all still waiting for a response from Maj. McCloud, which still hasn't come yet; some of them began to fear the worst. Nevertheless, Banks pressed on, determined to find his location.

A Company went down south, keeping low to the ground to avoid being seen. "Targets are getting closer," said Daltrey, looking at his PDA. "Let's slow down a bit." He motioned for the company to slow down. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to see farther. Damn this fog; it was going to be impossible to hit anything.

"Do you hear that?" asked Gilmore.

"What?"

"Sounds like... vehicles..."

Daltrey motioned the company to stop and listen. A slight rumbling sound of motors was coming their way. It was only a slight, faint sound, and yet it was enough to make Daltrey's heart stop. "I think... we should leave..."

"Yeah... let's..." said Plant.

Daltrey turned around and waved his hand forward. The entire company began to run the opposite direction, but no matter how fast they ran, the vehicle sounds grew louder and louder. Then came multiple sounds that stopped them dead in their tracks: enemy gunfire. "Scatter!" yelled Daltrey. Every soldier went their own direction, staying low to the ground doing so. Daltrey winced, seeing one of the new recruits get shot down almost immediately. He went into a prone position and fired his rifle randomly at the multiple hazy figures that were now coming into view. A tank rocket suddenly fired, sending two soldiers flying into the air - not completely intact, of course.

"This is hopeless!" shouted Plant. "We have no cover!"

Daltrey took out his PDA, contacting the Arwings. "Gilmore! I'm sending you our coordinates!"

_"What's going on?"_

"We're being fucking slaughtered, that's what's going on! Hurry up!"

* * *

_Up in the Skies_

"We're a little busy ourselves!" shouted Gilmore, firing his laser rapidly at the multiple fighter ships flying past him. If it was hard to see down there, it was even worse up here! There was but a few seconds' time when you could clearly see the fighters, when they're flying right past you. He managed to shoot a couple down, but more kept coming into view.

"We need to get back to our company! But how?"

"How about three of us go back?" asked Monroe.

"Okay! Who's going?"

Monroe agreed to, along with two other privates. They broke off from the group and followed the path set by their radars that led back to the company. Some of the fighters saw what they were doing and began to fire at them.

"Watch out!" shouted Gilmore.

"Man down!" yelled Monroe, looking back at one of the Arwings, falling to the ground in a fiery heap. _Shit, _he thought, as three of the fighters began to follow him. He did a somersault over the pursuers and shot rapidly, bringing down two of the them. The remaining fighter performed a rapid 360 around Monroe's Arwing, something he did not see coming. He tried to barrel roll, but his timing was off; the fighter fired at him, completely blowing off the left wing. "Fuck!" The Arwing descended to the surface; the controls have been shot.

"Monroe! You alright?" asked Gilmore.

"I lost a wing! I can't maneuver it!" He winced as he caught a glimpse of the other Arwing being blasted into smithereens. "I'm going to try to land, but there's no way I can make it back to the company!"

"Alright Monroe... just be careful..." said Gilmore woefully.

* * *

_Surface_

"Where are they?!" yelled Page, ducking his head low.

"They're caught up!" Daltrey yelled back, although it was drowned out by another explosion from the tank. They definitely knew it was a tank because the fog was starting to let up, which was a good thing and a bad thing. "That tank is killing us... We need to flank it somehow!"

"What are we gonna do? Climb on top of it and throw a grenade down the latch?!" shouted Plant.

"Exactly!"

"God, I love this job," Plant said sarcastically.

"Nobody said _you_ had to do it!" shouted Page.

"Alright, you five, come here!" Daltrey shouted to the first five soldiers he saw; Moon was one of them. "Look, we're gonna take out that tank. We have to do this before the fog completely disappears."

"What are we gonna do, sir?" asked Moon.

"We're gonna inch our way to the right, around the soldiers. They're advancing towards us, so we'll wait there and let them move past us. Then we'll make our way to the tank." Daltrey paused to make sure they're getting it. "I will climb on top of the tank, open the latch, and then toss a grenade inside. Got it?" The soldiers looked unsure, but they nodded. "Alright. Let's move."

Daltrey moved back until he couldn't see the silhouettes of the soldiers through the fog; if he can't see them, they can't see him. He moved along the ground, trying to stay as invisible as he can. The other soldiers followed suit. They watched as dark shadows ran past them, completely oblivious to their presence. Daltrey quietly reminded them to hold their fire, or else this whole thing would be blown. His instincts telling him that it was okay to move, he got up and led the soldiers towards the tank, following the sound it was making. Another rocket fired, and several screams from the distance followed. Daltrey could faintly see the outline of the tank, along with several other outlines of soldiers surrounding it.

"Okay... now what, sir?" asked Moon, indicating the soldiers.

Daltrey took out his combat knife. "Stealth." He sneaked up to one of the soldiers closer by, making sure there weren't any behind him. He swiftly grabbed hold of the soldier, holding his mouth shut with his hand, and ran the knife through his jugular. Quietly dropping him to the ground, Daltrey moved to another soldier, while his soldiers did the same. With most of the soldiers quietly taken out on this side, Daltrey ordered his own to stay hidden. "I'll throw the grenade in." The soldiers obeyed, and Daltrey moved in closer to the tank. It was moving along at a brisk pace, and he tried his best to cover himself to not only avoid being spotted on the other side, but to make sure one of his soldiers didn't mistake him for an enemy.

He grabbed hold of a couple of small bars used to climb aboard. Pulling himself up, he hoped to God that the tank didn't fire a rocket as he was doing this. Grabbing a grenade from his pocket, he felt around for the latch on top. He found it and pried it open. He bit the pin off the grenade, chucked it inside, then dropped to the ground. He ran for cover, not looking back.

A large explosion was heard, startling the lizard soldiers around the area. Daltrey reached his soldiers and looked back, seeing the tank in one piece. "What? What happened?"

"Somebody chucked the grenade out, sir," said Moon.

"Shit. Now they know there's Cornerian soldiers on this side. We have to retreat..."

"No... you guys go... I'll do it," said Moon.

"What? No, you're not..."

"I'll get the tank, sir! I promise!"

Daltrey was about to protest more, but he saw the look in Moon's eyes: determination, lack of fear, not a care of whether he lived or died. "Alright... good luck..."

Moon nodded, and he went off towards the tank while the rest of them retreated. He reached the tank and moved along with it, grabbing hold of the bars. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a grenade; instead of trying to hide himself, he picked himself up on top of the tank. He opened up the latch, and just when he was about to pull the pin, he looked up and saw soldiers taking notice of him. They fired, a couple of the shots hitting his body; it didn't make a difference to him. Remembering the words Cpt. Hare told the company, which Maj. McCloud had told him ("Never give up; trust your instincts"), he pulled the pin, threw the grenade into the tank, and dropped his entire body down onto the latch, covering it.

Daltrey looked back as he saw the tank explode into a heap of flames and burning metal. A Company cheered, but Daltrey mournfully looked on when he saw Moon was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

_Unknown_

Monroe wandered away from his Arwing's crash site. He had no idea where he was or where to go, but he pressed on, hoping to find some sort of clue. If he was lucky enough, he might run into some Cornerian soldiers, and they could lead him back to his company.

The fog was beginning to fade away, which was bad for him; he'll be easily spotted this way. He went into a prone position and continued that way. It was slow, but better safe than sorry. He paused for a minute to listen for anything that could help him out. His rifle stayed by his side, ready for anything. Off in the distance, he could faintly hear some soldiers talking.

"What are we going to do about these?" asked one.

"We'll have to take them," said another. "No use leaving three perfectly functional aircraft here."

At the word "aircraft", Monroe's ears perked up. He got up into a crouch position, still making sure he was concealed in the fog. Faintly seeing the outlines of five soldiers, all of whom didn't seem to notice him, he readied himself, pulling a flash grenade out of his pocket. He counted to three in his head, then pulled the pin and chucked it to the soldiers' position. After a few yells of surprise, Monroe ran up to them and dropped them one after the other. He exhaled, not believing that he had pulled that off. He didn't even notice what particular aircraft the soldiers were talking about until he looked straight at it. He couldn't believe his luck!

* * *

_Town_

James sat in his cell, which was right next to Peppy's, his head looking down towards the ground. Everything that had happened today was all very surreal to the both of them. "I can't believe this is happening... How could I have trusted him?"

"You didn't know..." assured Peppy.

"But it all seems so obvious now! His breakdown, his random disappearances! I was blind! I thought, you know, 'He was an old friend! I could trust him with all my heart! He wouldn't do something like that!'" He sighed, adjusting his sunglasses, which reminded him of his eye. "He killed her, Peppy... It was him all along..."

Peppy sighed. There was nothing he could say that could possibly make him feel better. Instead, he laid back against the wall, waiting. Waiting for whatever was going to happen to them. Were they going to execute them? Why not? They were worth nothing to them. Were they just going to keep them here until they wither away and die? On second thought, Peppy preferred the former. At least they were "nice" enough to let them keep their oxygen tanks.

Outside the prison, there were two lizard guards pacing back and forth. One of them caught sight of Pigma, who was walking up to them. "What can we do for you, sir?" asked the guard.

"I just want to talk to our little prisoners for a bit," replied Pigma.

"Go ahead."

Pigma nodded and walked up to the cell. Peppy looked at him in anger while James tried to ignore him.

"Give us a reason why we shouldn't kill you right now," said Peppy.

"Alright. Is this good?" Pigma suddenly turned around and grabbed one of the guards. Before the other guard could notice, Pigma grabbed the pistol out of his hostage's holster and shot him straight in the head. He then grabbed hold of his hostage's head and twisted it, snapping his neck. Peppy gaped while James had just looked up, seeing what the commotion was all about.

"Why did you just do that?" asked Peppy.

Pigma took out two keys from his pocket and proceeded to unlock the cell doors. "I'm getting you guys out of here..."


	26. Dysphoria

**Dysphoria**

* * *

_Venom_

As stated before, James and Peppy both found this an incredibly surreal day. And Pigma busting them out of jail after everything he's done just made it even more surreal.

"But why are you doing this?" asked Peppy incredulously as he walked out of the cell.

"Everything I've done was unforgivable," said Pigma, shooting a quick look at James. "This is my way of saying sorry."

"Well..." James looked down, then back up at Pigma. Here he was, looking at the one responsible for his wife's death, and yet... his anger was surprisingly suppressed. "I can't forgive you yet, but... you have my trust again."

Pigma nodded. "Then I should also tell you... I have the location of the bomb."

"You do?" asked Peppy.

"I should know it, I planted it. It's..."

Just then, a whole slew of jeeps began to surround the area, with an alarm buzzing in the distance. The three of them didn't even need to acknowledge to each other that they needed to split up and hide. James ran through an alleyway between two large buildings while Peppy and Pigma found themselves inside each of the buildings. The soldiers unloaded off the jeeps, starting their searches inside each of the buildings.

James peaked out of the side of the wall he was hiding behind, seeing maybe fifty soldiers; he couldn't tell from the fog, which wasn't as thick as before, but still lingering around the area. He slowly moved along the side of the wall, looking both directions. The alleyway was extremely narrow; if anybody came through here, he was done for. He kept moving until he heard several sounds of feet marching through. He froze, not knowing what to do. There was nowhere he could go; they seemed to be coming from both directions! Looking up at the wall, he paused. He turned around and looked at the other wall. It was worth a shot.

The two lizard groups met up near the center of the alleyway. They all were lined up one-by-one due to the narrow space. "Did you see anything?" asked one of them.

"Not yet," said another. "Let's split up into smaller groups; we'll cover more ground that way."

With that, they all walked out of the area. James, looking down as they passed underneath him, could feel all of the muscles in his body about to burst from strain as he held himself up between the two walls. The 30 lb. oxygen tank on his back didn't help much. When the last soldier was clear away from his position, he let out a sigh of relief as he dropped to the ground quietly and made his way through the rest of the alleyway.

* * *

_Fifty Miles Away  
_

The tank was gone, but there were still multitudes of soldiers running through. A Company kept their ground, moving back as the lizards moved forward. Daltrey could see the soldiers much better now, since the fog was almost faded away. Drenched in sweat and blood (either their own or their comrades'), they kept on fighting them off. As they shot down more and more soldiers, it seemed as though victory was inevitable. At least, until the fog finally faded away completely.

The A Company soldiers stopped dead in their tracks as they could see farther and farther away. The group they were fighting had been eradicated, but that's not what they were focusing on. It must have been a mile away, yet it was still the most intimidating image they had all ever seen; a tank brigade. Ten of those monsters were coming straight at them. No wonder it seemed like they were winning; the lizards had been retreating back to the tanks. Up above, there were dozens of enemy fighters approaching the area; some of the ships looked like Arwings trying to fight them off. Soldiers, which they all identified as Cornerians, were running away as the lizards plowed through them.

"RUN!" shouted Cpt. Hunt from the distance. A Company didn't even get a chance to recognize them all as D Company soldiers; they all obliged with Cpt. Hunt's orders. They could hear explosions off in the distance from the tank rockets and laser fire from the fighters.

"We never seem to get a break," said Daltrey to himself.

* * *

_Town_

_Building 1267_

Peppy looked up from the balcony of the second floor, seeing groups of soldiers pouring in. Thank God it was dark in this building; there were only slight shards of green light protruding through the window blinds. This place looked like an abandoned office building from long ago; he figured that as there were bodies long rotted all over the place. It was long enough ago for the lights not to work, although not long enough ago for the elevators to cease function, since he heard an elevator chime from the distance. With that, he ran, trying to find a place to hide.

Under a desk? No, too obvious. Behind the broken vending machine? Same thing, and besides, his oxygen tank was too big. Ventilation system? Ventilation system... well, it was the best he could find. On the wall was a small vent up above him. It was big enough to fit his body in; needless to say, however, it was going to be a tight squeeze. As quickly as he could, he pried open the vent. He slipped off his oxygen tank and threw it in, making sure he didn't accidentally pull off his mask doing so. He grabbed hold of the ledge and pulled himself up and in, pushing his tank out of the way. Alright, he was in... now what?

* * *

_Building 1269_

Pigma had managed to get himself on the 7th floor via elevator. He stopped himself when he realized how long it would take for him to get back down. He wasn't going to wait forever for these guys to leave! It was too late to fix his mistake, as he heard several soldiers moving about the area. He frantically looked for somewhere to go; taking the elevator again was out of the question. The soldiers must have seen the floor he was on. His heart sank as he heard more and more soldiers flooding the floor. There was no way out of this...

As he passed by a few desks, he noticed a couple sheets of paper lying around. He thought for a moment, then grabbed one sheet and reached for a pen. He then ran into a bathroom and hid himself inside a stall to buy himself some time. Scribbling on the piece of paper, he hoped that, somehow, James and Peppy would find this...

* * *

_Up in the Skies  
_

Nine Arwings, they had started out with. Now, Gilmore led a small group of three, not including himself, against the fighters right above the tank brigade. "How many smart bombs do you guys have?" asked Gilmore. "I'm out!"

"So am I!"

"I only have two!"

"One left for me!"

Shit. There were ten tanks, and all they had were three smart bombs left. They had wasted all of their ammo on the fighters. "Daltrey! Do you have RPGs?"

_"We don't! D Company has... had a couple, but they've been wasted!"_

Gilmore sighed. "Let's see if our lasers can penetrate the armor." He flew in close to one of the tanks on the far right, readying his sights.

_"Wait, Gilmore! Watch ou-"_

* * *

_Surface_

Daltrey watched in horror as Gilmore's Arwing was hit by one of the other tanks. The aircraft crashed and burned onto the tank he was aiming for. Most of the A Company soldiers didn't have a chance to witness this since they were trying to avoid the laser fire from the soldiers around the tanks. They were plowing right through D Company, which had been reduced down to about fifty.

"The rest of you!" Daltrey said, addressing the Arwings. "Avoid the tank fire as best as you can! Focus your attention on the fighters!"

"What a way to go out," said Plant.

"What? Being completely raped by a bunch of mutant lizards?" asked Page.

"Yeah, something like that..."

"Wait a minute!" Daltrey exclaimed. He pulled out his PDA again, contacting the Great Fox. "Come on, ROB!"

_"Yes sir?"_

* * *

_Building 1269_

As Pigma finished scribbling on the sheet of paper, he walked out of the stall and peaked out of the bathroom door. The lizards had the bathroom completely surrounded. He sighed, walking out with his hands above his head. The soldiers readied their weapons, pointing at him. He prepared himself for his seemingly inevitable fate...

Suddenly, a force from behind pushed him to the ground, the crumpled paper falling out of his hands. He rolled over and saw himself pinned to the floor by O'Donnell, holding a valve of liquid. Before he could do anything, O'Donnell ripped off his gas mask and spilled all of the contents of the valve into his mouth and held his snout shut. Pigma struggled to not swallow the liquid. This couldn't happen... Not again... He was so close to redemption... Why couldn't they have just killed him? Hot tears streamed down his face as the liquid found its way down his esophagus. Then, suddenly, the pain was gone. The emotions he was feeling just a second ago were washed away. He felt... nothing...

O'Donnell got up from the ground, letting the swine out of his grip. Pigma grunted, getting up from the floor. "Why didn't you kill me?" he asked, putting his oxygen mask back on.

"We figured this would keep you out of Heaven," said O'Donnell. "Now... we should get you treated. You've been exposed to too much Venom air."

"Fine then..." Pigma followed the soldiers out of the room, leaving O'Donnell, who had noticed the crumpled paper on the floor. He picked it up and uncrumpled it. To him, there was nothing but scribbles and lines. What the hell was this? he wondered. He stuffed it inside his pocket; he'll ask Pigma about it later.

* * *

_Up in the Skies  
_

Great Fox flew through the clouds, the soldiers of A Company cheering down below. The fighters started to ignore the Arwings when they saw this massive hulk of an aircraft and began to pummel the hull of the ship. ROB took some of them out with the ship's guns, while the Arwings took care of the rest. They chased them out of the way, making room for ROB to shoot. The robot aimed at a tank over on the left side. _"Fire."_

The ship let out a massive wave of laser fire upon the tank, completely obliterating it. ROB slowly panned over the next few tanks, firing more lasers and causing more tanks to explode in a heap of metal. The Cornerians couldn't believe what was happening; they were actually going to win this fight!

"Wait..." Daltrey said slowly, looking to see a lone fighter in the sky. The Arwings didn't notice it; in fact, it seemed like _he _was the only one who noticed it. He had to squint to see where it was heading. His heart sank as he saw it was aiming right for the Great Fox cockpit. "ROB, watch OUT!"

ROB couldn't react fast enough as he looked up to see a fighter aiming right towards him. In a moment of robotic instinct, he jumped out of the cockpit seat and tried to make his way out as the fighter made impact.

Outside, the Cornerians' spirits were crushed once again as they saw the Great Fox cockpit explode in a fiery blaze. It descended to the ground as the soldiers ran out of the way to avoid being crushed by the mammoth machine. The hull remained mostly intact, but down below, it collapsed into the ground. The Cornerians were almost knocked off their feet from the force of the impact. They didn't have time to look upon the damage; the five remaining tanks started firing again, and the soldiers once again engaged in this incredibly one-sided firefight.

* * *

_Building 1267_

Peppy wormed his way through the ventilation, pushing his oxygen tank forward and dragging himself along. He hoped nobody could hear him from the outside. But with all of the accidental clanging and banging on the sides, that annoying screeching sound whenever two pieces of metal slide against each other, and the reverberation of the pipes, that was unlikely.

It was also extremely hard to see where he was going. There was virtually no light inside, so he had to feel his way around. As if that wasn't hard enough _without_ dragging this 30 lb. beast everywhere he went. He kept moving forward, noticing that his surroundings were starting to get brighter. And in here, "brighter" meant just a lighter shade of dark. But it was a good sign that he was nearing the end of the tunnel, which would mean outside.

* * *

_Outside_

James now found himself shimmying along a ledge on the west wall of building 1267. More soldiers were flooding the area, and he couldn't stay on the ground. Wandering around the building, he found a pipe that was strong enough to support himself and the tank on his back, so he climbed up here. What he was going to do now, however, he wasn't sure. He prayed that the fog would stick around, and so far, God seemed to be helping him out.

He kept his balance on the ledge, avoiding looking down. The ledge itself was only about three inches wide. It was hard to keep himself steady for more than five seconds; it was as if the tank on his back was _trying _to pull him down. Moving along the wall, he heard a loud clanging sound. He moved over to the corner; it was coming from the wall adjacent to this one. He slowly moved himself over to the next wall, seeing somebody climb out of a vent of some sort.

"Peppy?!"

Peppy turned his head to see who was calling. "James? Where's Pigma?" He handed James his oxygen tank while he took the rest of his body out of the vent.

"I don't know. I thought he was with you."

"Well, we gotta find some way out of here."

James thought for a minute, looking as the fog was slightly thinning. "You find a way out of here. I'll try to find Pigma."

Peppy had a look of bewilderment. "You sure?"

"He helped us out, Peppy. I know what he did, but... I have to find him."

Peppy looked unsure, but he nodded. "I'll try to get backup."

"Alright." James inched over to the pipe that he had climbed and grabbed hold of it. He slid down, followed by Peppy. He could see the outlines of a couple of jeeps parked outside, with a few soldiers standing around; most of them were probably still inside. James scanned the area to look for a place to hide after he had attempted this incredibly stupid stunt he was about to pull off. His eyes caught sight of a manhole on the other side of the street; that looked good. He took a deep breath, looked back at Peppy, and nodded.

The soldiers by the jeeps turned around as they saw a fox screaming at the top of his lungs sprint past them. They all looked at each other, incredibly confused, then bolted after the fox, who had disappeared into the fog. As they followed the fox's trail, they didn't notice a rabbit slip by, which meant they were also oblivious to the fact that said rabbit was about to hijack one of their vehicles...

* * *

_Sewer_

James slipped the manhole cover above him back on as discreetly as possible. He kept quiet as he listened to the soldiers step past the manhole. He kept quiet, despite what he was looking at...

This sewer was lit. Dim light bulbs lined the ceilings, but that's not what James was focusing on. Lizards. Hundreds of them splashed about in the shallow water. They were bigger than normal, although James wasn't too sure what size a _normal _lizard was; most he's seen were anthropomorphic. Still, these lizards were undoubtedly _big_; big enough to make it hard for him to walk around. He stepped over the lizards, trying to make his way through the tunnel. They bumped against him as they tried to get out of his way. He looked around, trying to step on any open spot he could find.

At the end of this tunnel was a door. On the other side of the door was a large room. In this room, James didn't know what the hell to make of this. He stepped onto a platform up above, and down below, more lizards, making a loud chatter that echoed through the room. But this time, there were even more of them. Millions, in fact! He couldn't comprehend the shear number of these things as he looked down upon them from the platform. He didn't even notice for a second these were almost as big as the ones he saw up above.

**"Like what you see?" **

James froze as he heard that voice. It was Andross! He'd recognize that voice anywhere! But something wasn't right... That voice came from inside... his head? No... no, that can't be right...

**"40 million of them, growing at a rapid pace. By the end of the week, they will all be fully grown and trained..."  
**

These were lizard soldiers? No way... 40 million... If these things were let out...

**"Now look over to the left, and you'll see another door. Walk inside."**

James stayed on the platform, not wanting to move.

**"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Now, GO!"**

Andross' shout caused James to shout out in pain. It was as if he was holding two amplifiers turned all the way up to 11 against both of his ears . He had no choice but to walk into the room. He did so, although he wasn't so much walking as he was crawling. The splitting pain started to go away as he opened the door and entered. There was a staircase leading downstairs; it was quite a long way down. He stood up, took a deep breath, and started to climb downstairs.

**"What's taking you so long? C'mon, faster! Faster! FASTER!"**

The voice made him lose his footing, and he tripped down the rest of the way. He reached the end of the staircase, groaning in pain. Trying to shake it off, he stood himself back up and saw another door in front of him. He opened it and went inside to find himself in another room; not quite as big as the last one he saw, but still big. Around the room, there were some tables lined with test tubes and other lab tools. He didn't even notice, however, as he was focusing more on what was on the _other _side of the room.

There were giant glass cylinders on the other side, containing some of the biggest, ugliest creatures he's ever seen. One of them, which looked like a giant grasshopper with more limbs, banged on the glass and growled as it looked down upon him. He looked over to another one to see that it was filled with water and down at the surface was a huge clam-looking thing. It opened itself, and inside, James thought he saw a pearl. He jumped when he saw that pearl was actually an _eye!_ The last one was heavily heated; he knew that because it had a reddish color to it, and there was a large monster inside completely enshrouded in lava!

**"As you can see, I've been doing quite well for myself. These monsters are only mere experiments. I needed to see the exact effects my pollution bomb had. The pollution bomb, not unlike the bomb planted in Corneria right now."**

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. If this bomb were to explode in Corneria, they would all turn into _this?! _They needed to find that bomb! He wasn't going to let him turn the Cornerian citizens into these... monsters! He especially wasn't going to let that bomb take his son away!

**"It is inevitable, James McCloud. Corneria will soon fall to my knees... along with the entire Lylat System!"**

Andross then began to laugh, trembling through James' brain. He couldn't take this anymore; he had to get out of here! He ran back out the door and started up the stairs. The laugh still echoed through his brain as he made his way up the steps. When he finally reached the platform, he caught sight of something that stopped him dead in his tracks. Powalski's dead body was lying on the platform; it looked as though chunks of him had been chewed off. But by what? He got that answer once he looked to his left.

Above the lizard crowd was a gigantic, floating disembodied head smiling down upon him. It had a large beard around its face and long gray hair flowing from the top of its head. Its skin was heavily wrinkled and its teeth were rotted and crooked. Two disembodied hands floated beside it, and they were as grotesque as the head; yellow fingernails protruded at the tips and large veins pulsated underneath the skin. But what James really took notice of were its eyes: purple retinal blood vessels and orange irises.

**"Recognize me?" **the figure asked, smiling wider. James wasn't about to hang around to answer Andross' question; he bolted out of the room through the sewer tunnel, Andross laughing behind him. **"Go ahead and run! Tell the others everything you've seen here! It won't make a difference! By the time you leave the planet, that bomb will have already detonated! And you will all be under MY control!"**

James didn't listen; he wasn't going to let that happen! He ran through the tunnel, not caring what he stepped on. The lizards below screeched as he made his way back to the manhole.

* * *

_Surface_

On the jeep Peppy had stolen, a GPS system on the dashboard showed multiple targets about fifty miles away from here, so he drove in that direction. There were targets _everywhere, _but this position was the closest. It took him about twenty minutes for him to get there, and when he did, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Five tanks and multiple soldiers were chasing down soldiers he recognized as Cornerians. Cornerians that were in _his _company! Up above were three Arwings trying to fight off multiple fighters; one of those Arwings burned into the sky. In the background was a large ship that had crashed. It looked like... no... that can't be... He drove the jeep over to their position, seeing Daltrey and many others trying to hold their ground. He also saw Cpt. Hunt and few other D Company soldiers.

"Cpt.!" shouted Hunt. "We're being completely slaughtered!"

"I can see that!" Peppy shouted back, grabbing a weapon from a dead soldier on the ground. "Have you tried contacting Banks?"

"He won't answer! I can't get to Corneria either!"

Well, backup was out of the question then. He panned around the soldiers, who looked completely emaciated and desperate. Soldiers ran behind the Great Fox for cover, hiding in fear. Some tried to find any large debris from the fighters above while others were holding up the dead bodies of their comrades to defend themselves. A rocket fired, knocking Peppy, Hunt, and a few others off of their feet. Peppy shook off the loud ringing in his ears and looked around to see if everyone was alright.

He saw Barrett fall to the ground, being pummeled by lasers. Page was trying to help Plant up, whose leg had been blown off. Morgan and Harper had given up on trying to revive every casualty they saw. Daltrey shouted to the A Company soldiers, but he wasn't shouting orders; instead, what he shouted sounded like farewells, as if this was the end. Peppy hated to think of this, but it looked as though this really _was _the end for all of them. The Arwings up above were out of ammo, and these tanks were closing in on them. Their numbers were thinning out... they had no chance...

No... no, this _can't _be the end! They'll get out of it somehow! He knew it! Somehow...


	27. Tribulation

**Tribulation**

* * *

_Town_

James looked around, seeing that this town was completely abandoned. What happened here; did they all just leave? It didn't matter though; at least he was out of _that _place! He saw one more jeep parked out on the street. He headed towards it, but was stopped when a force behind him kicked pushed him down to the ground. He could feel his oxygen tank being pulled off, along with his mask. He rolled his body over and looked up to see O'Donnell with a valve of liquid. _No... no, not that!_ Before he could stop him, O'Donnell threw his body on top and held his mouth open. James struggled as O'Donnell poured the liquid into his mouth and held it closed. He did all that he could to keep it from sliding down his throat. O'Donnell grinned.

"Pigma didn't put up this much of a fight..."

James looked up at O'Donnell in anger; they got to Pigma _again?!_ With all of his might, he thrust his knees upward and kicked the wolf off. He spat the liquid out of his mouth. He didn't swallow any of it, but now he was getting a taste of something else: the air. He choked as the air started to enter his lungs. O'Donnell took this opportunity to land a couple of blows onto the fox. He kicked him in the stomach, bringing him to the ground and knocking any oxygen he had left in him out. He then picked him up by the shirt and punched him back down.

James, in a blind fury, rolled away before O'Donnell could pick him up again. He then tackled the wolf to the ground. He was starting to get dizzy, and he couldn't breathe, but that didn't stop him from fighting back. He picked the wolf up and repeatedly smashed his head against the side of the jeep. O'Donnell tried to push back, but James stopped him by plowing his head through the windshield, shattering the glass. He then let go of the wolf, who had been knocked out cold. His body slid down the side of the truck and onto the ground as James crawled back to his tank. He put his mask back on, savoring the oxygen flowing into his mouth. Now he had to get out of here...

A sharp pain suddenly jolted into James' back as O'Donnell, his head bloodied from the glass, jabbed a large shard into the fox. O'Donnell kicked him back down, his mask flying off. With James lying face down, O'Donnell stepped onto the shard, piercing it further and further into James' body, causing him to yell out in pain. O'Donnell smiled widely.

"You won't get out of this. You'll be seeing your wife soon, McClo-"

O'Donnell didn't get to finish his sentence, as his stomach exploded into a bloody mess. James looked back, seeing an Arwing fly overhead. The wolf, with a stunned and defeated looked on his face, stumbled back and fell to the ground in a heap of his own blood. James reached around his back and pulled the shard out, wincing in pain doing so. The Arwing flew away and doubled back towards the town to land. While it was doing so, James looked over to the dead wolf and noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket. He grabbed it, shaking some of the excess blood off, and unfolded it. What he saw was a very crudely drawn map of downtown Corneria, with an X drawn on one of the streets. He was sure it; he knew the area like the back of his hand. But why did O'Donnell have a map of downtown Corneria? Unless...

The Arwing landed near his position. He adjusted his sunglasses (he was surprised they didn't fly off during that brawl) and crawled over to his oxygen tank. When he slipped his mask back on, he looked back at the Arwing and saw a feline soldier jump out of the cockpit and run over to him to help him out.

"Monroe?" asked James. "How did you find me?"

"I didn't, sir" replied Monroe, helping James put his mask back on. "I happened to see this town and saw you were having trouble."

"Well... appreciate the help," replied James, not believing how lucky that was. "Look, I have the bomb location, we should get going."

"We should check out that wound first, sir..."

* * *

_Building 1269_

Pigma looked through the scope of his sniper rifle on the roof top. He set his sights for James, who was on the ground bleeding from the wound inflicted on him from O'Donnell. Everybody else had left to fight off the Cornerians, but Andross had left him and O'Donnell there to finish James off. Now that O'Donnell had failed, it was up to him. From up here, however, he can't seem to get a clear shot. And with Monroe there trying to treat his wound, it was damn near impossible. Just a... straight shot to the head... Okay, Monroe's out of the way; now was his chance!

He fired the shot, but a split second later, Monroe moved in closer to James, within the bullet's path. "Shit!"

* * *

_Ground level_

Monroe heard a large metal clang, then felt a force penetrate through his back and out of his stomach. He didn't take notice that his oxygen had stopped flowing, as he was more focused on the large amount of blood that began to flow from the right side of his abdomen. James knew it was a sniper from the sound of that shot; he caught Monroe as he fell to the ground, looking at the top of building 1269 to see a hazy figure standing on top. The figure ran away, seeing that he had been sighted. James closed his eyes in pain, having a pretty good idea who that was. "Pigma," he whispered with sadness. Monroe heard him, and was stunned. _So he _did _betray us..._

James looked back down at Monroe, who was bleeding excessively, more than himself. His oxygen tank had been shot, and air was escaping very quickly. "Hold your breath, Monroe..." The feline did so, and James took the punctured tank off of his back, along with his mask. He then slipped off his own tank, took his mask off and pressed it onto Monroe's mouth. He had a look of protest in his eyes, but James nodded slowly. "You need it more than I do." The mask didn't quite fit Monroe; it was more elongated for James' muzzle. But it'll do.

He took the first aid kit that Monroe had and opened it up to find a large amount of gauze, but that wasn't enough for this. He took off his jacket and slipped it under his back, then he took the gauze and pressed it onto his stomach. "You'll be fine... you'll be fine," James said soothingly. He tried his best to keep himself conscious; his vision was starting to fade, and he felt as though he was about to throw up. He could feel blood trickling down his back from his own wound, but he ignored that.

"We have to get out of here..." said James. "You have no idea what Andross has down there..." He began to describe what he saw down below to Monroe, whose eyes had widened at what James was telling him. As he was telling him this, he started getting short of breath. Realizing this, he got up, losing his balance a bit. "Let's get you... in the Arwing..." he said, huffing in between every few words he spoke. "Bomb... location..." Stuffing the map into his pocket, he took the oxygen tank and slipped it over Monroe's back, pressing the jacket in between. He then picked him up and carried him to the aircraft, telling him to keep pressure on his wound. His legs wobbled from the weight, and his back felt as if it was about to tear open, but he did his best not to drop him.

He reached the Arwing, seeing that it was #7. If he had the energy to do so, he would've smiled. He lifted Monroe over his head and slipped him into the back of the ship. There was barely enough room behind the pilot's seat for him, but he'll be fine. As he was about to lift himself into the ship, he felt his stomach lurch. He fell to his knees as he threw up onto the ground. Groaning in pain, he spit the rest of it out of his mouth, got up onto his feet and grabbed onto the Arwing. He lifted himself up, throwing himself into the cockpit. He adjusted his body to the seat and closed the cockpit, feeling relieved at the oxygen that began to pour in. He pressed his back up against the seat as a way to pressurize his wound. Starting up the engines, he looked over to Monroe.

"Hang on..." he gasped. Monroe, who had managed to slow down the bleeding, was on the verge of tears and of fainting.

"...Thank you, sir," he said before passing out.

* * *

_Fifty Miles Away_

The two remaining Arwings had taken out one tank with the smart bombs, but there were still four of them left. They didn't have enough ammo to take out the rest. The A Company soldiers, along with the few other D Company soldiers, had all but given up down below, but their energy had almost been completely depleted, as well as their ammunition. Peppy looked around, seeing many of the new recruits obliterated. The wounded soldiers were kept behind the ones still standing, but at this point, the former began to outnumber the latter.

The four remaining tanks still had plenty of ammo to wipe everybody out, and they seemed hellbent on doing so. Everybody tried their best to avoid the rocket blasts, which was easier than before since there were more dead than alive.

"We're done..." said Page, his rifle out of ammunition. "That's it..."

"At least we all go out in a blaze of glory..." groaned Plant, trying to stop his leg from bleeding as he hid behind the surviving soldiers.

As Daltrey was about to respond, he paused for a minute, listening. "Anybody here that?"

"I believe that's the sound of agonizing defeat..."

"No, really. Listen..."

A loud rush of wind suddenly past overhead, and the next thing they heard was a loud explosion. Everybody still standing ducked their heads as more explosions began to fill their ears. Peppy peaked up at the sky, seeing an Arwing fly past. "No way..."

Inside his Arwing, James could barely keep himself conscious. He could, however, discern whether or not he was about to fly into one of the tank rockets. He barrel-rolled out of the way, firing more smart bombs down onto the three remaining tanks. It took about four of them to destroy them all completely. The other two Arwings followed behind, taking out any fighters that tried to get in the way.

As the lizards began to retreat, the surviving soldiers looked around at the destruction. Their first thought was to cheer in celebration; why shouldn't they? They won! But seeing all of their dead comrades scattered about on the ground made this victory bittersweet to all of them.

From a distance, they could see the Cornerian flagship descending down near their position. Great. Only about five hours too late.

James tried to steady his ship for a landing, but his vision began to fade. He managed to bring the landing gear out, and the soldiers cleared out of the way to give him space to land. As he touched down on the ground, his arms fell limp. The Arwing shook violently, landing flat onto the ground. James' head fell back onto his head rest, drool coming down his muzzle.

_I can't... not now..._

Peppy rushed over to the Arwing, seeing immediately that James was in trouble. He opened up the cockpit, pulling his body out of the ship. He shouted out for the other soldiers to take Monroe's body out of the ship as well. James moaned, not having a clue who or what was lifting him up in the air.

"I've got you, buddy..." assured Peppy. "Let's get them to the flagship!"

As they all headed for the flagship, James tried to reach into his pocket to pull out the map. It fell out of his hands, dropping to the ground. Daltrey noticed it and picked it up, uncrumpling it to see what it was. His eyes widened, and he quickened his pace to catch up with the others.

* * *

_Flagship_

The Great Fox was tethered by the Arwings (with someone else piloting James') and was dragged into the docking bay. It didn't seem likely that the Arwings could handle the weight, but two other Arwings were found later; they were identified as Cpt. Hare and Cpt. Dengar's Arwings. All five of them managed to bring the damaged ship into the flagship, where they would start repairs. As the engineers started looking inside the ship to see the extent of the damage, they found an old ROB-32 unit who had been damaged, but was still functional. While the engineers protested, the robot insisted that it return to its company.

Banks looked at the map that Lt. Daltrey had given him. Alright, they had the location; now how were they going to get it back in Corneria?

"We still can't get a signal out," said Banks. "Is everybody on board? Let's take off now; we'll see if we can get it through outside of the planet."

"I hope we get it there in time," said Daltrey.

"So how's McCloud doing?" asked Banks. Daltrey replied with a sigh.

"Not good, sir..."

* * *

James laid in his bed in the infirmary, barely able to move. ROB looked over his body and would switch periodically between him and Monroe, who was in the bed beside him, now fully awake. The bullet had been removed from his body, and he had been stitched up; the bullet, thankfully, missed a lot of his vital organs. Although ROB also wanted to check all of the other casualties, they all insisted they were fine. Even for being on the brink of breaking down, the robot was strangely dedicated, Peppy thought.

_"S-sir?"  
_

"What is it, ROB?" asked Peppy. Everybody else in the company (the 46 out of 67 who could still stand) moved in closer to hear what he was going to say. Monroe turned his head to listen as well.

_"Cpl... Monroe is h-ea-ling... rap-pidly. He w-w-ill make a successf-f-ful recov-very."_

"And... what about James?"

The robot paused for a minute, wondering how to put this. _"Maj. Mc-c-Cloud... has suf-f-fered an i-m-mense... amou-ount of rad-d-iatio-n si-c-ckness. I am n-n-ot sure if he... w-w-ill surv-v-vive..."_

Everybody's heart sank at the robot's last words. Peppy looked at James, who had never looked so frail and weak before in his life. He couldn't die... he couldn't lose his best friend. No... his brother. Monroe got up from his bed, at the protest of the others, but he assured them he was fine. His stomach still hurt like a bitch, but he didn't feel it as much anymore.

"He saved me... he saved my life..." said Monroe softly.

"It's not your fault, Monroe," Peppy assured him firmly. "Don't blame yourself."

"So what happened?" asked Page.

Monroe looked up at him sadly. "Cpt. Dengar... he shot me with a sniper..."

Everybody in the company murmured in shock, many of them looking over at Plant, who just looked down at his wound to avoid eye contact. Why did he have to be right? Peppy didn't know what to make of this. On the one hand, they might have gotten Pigma with the potion again. On the other, Pigma might have been tricking them all along. He didn't know what to think... he just didn't. But did it really matter anymore? Pigma's on their side now, and he probably will be for the rest of his life. James couldn't make out what the others were saying; otherwise, he would've told them how wrong they were.

"And... sir?"

"What is it?"

"There's something that... the Major told me... while he was patching me up..." Monroe then began to tell the entire company what James had told him. The 40 million lizard soldiers down below; Andross' experiments; Andross himself. The company soldiers stared at him, mouths gaping. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. "Well... those were the Major's exact words... he saw all of this with his own eyes..."

* * *

"The signal still won't go through," said the pilot.

"Dammit!" snarled Banks. "Now what?!"

They all thought for a minute, but no plausible answer seemed to come up. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared over Daltrey's head.

"What other planets can we get a signal through?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Well, we can send this to that planet, and they can relay it back to Corneria..."

Banks looked at him, nodding his head slowly. "What planets are in range?"

The pilots took a minute to look over the map. "Only planet we can get through to is Zoness."

"William Black? Oh, forget it then..." said Banks in defeat.

"We don't know what side he's on," said Daltrey. "It's worth a shot."

He shrugged. "I don't know... Patch a signal to Zoness. Get me William Black."

A large holographic view screen appeared before them, showing them static and a message saying "Receiving Signal". After a few seconds, William Black (who, surprisingly, had lost an alarming amount of weight) appeared, looking visibly worried.

_"Who is this?" _he asked.

"This is the 12th Infantry Regiment of the Cornerian Army. We want to send-"

A loud explosion was heard on the other side, which distorted the image. Black ducked for a bit, popping his head up again. _"I'm sorry, we're having... some slight trouble here... can you say that again?"_

"What's... going on?" asked Banks.

_"We're being attacked by... I don't know, an army of lizards! I don't know who they belong to_, _but I'm sure we've never done jack shit to them!"_

"Black... that's Andross' army..."

_"Andross?! That miserable fuck! What did _I _do to him?! You've gotta help us out!"_

Banks paused for a minute. "Black, we're in a lot of trouble, too. There's a bomb planted somewhere in Corneria City, and we have the location of it. If we don't get this location to the city in time, we won't have an army to send to you."

_"Then give the location to me! I have an open signal to Katina_, _I can send it to them and they'll relay it to Corneria!" _

A feeling of relief filled Bank's body, and he ran over to the scanner on the pilot's dashboard and pressed the map flat down onto it. A horizontal red light moved up and down vertically along the map before flashing green. A preview of the scan appeared on the view screen. "Send it!" The pilots did so, and the preview disappeared off the screen.

_"Got it! Okay, I'm sending it to Katina right now!"  
_

"Thank you..." said Banks, falling back into his chair and sighing. "I just hope it gets there in time..."

* * *

_My vision is fading... My breath's becoming more irregular by the moment... Is this it? Yes, this is... I'm going to die... I know it... There's no denying it... These are going to be my final moments... Lying here, in this bed, completely emaciated... But... I've succeeded my mission. I've gotten the bomb location... I just hope that Corneria gets it in time... I hope my son can..._

_My son... Oh no... I'm never going to see him again... I'll never be able to see him grow up, to see all of the journeys he'll go through, to support him on his path... I'll never again be able to hold him, talk to him, tell him I love him... Have I ever even __told him I loved him? I'm sure I did at some point... But would he even remember it? Why did I have to leave him like this? A rush out the door, not even stopping to answer his question... His question... I wonder what it was... I wish I was able to answer it now..._

Daltrey rushed into the room, a look of relief in his face. "We just received word that they found the bomb and it's been defused..."

_Oh... good... we succeeded..._

The other soldiers sighed, glad that their long battle had paid off and their home was safe... at least for now. "Great! How did you get the signal through?" asked Peppy.

"We have signals bouncing off of Katina and Titania, and we now have a connection with Corneria. Communication lines are open if you guys want to contact somebody..."

_Wait... that's it! _

"Auugggh..." moaned James.

"James? What is it?" asked Peppy.

"Mmmy... s... so..."

"What?"

"...So...on... F...ox..."

Peppy looked at him for a moment before realizing what he was trying to say. "Get a line through! He wants to talk to his son! Go on, hurry up!"

* * *


	28. The Death of James McCloud

**The Death of James McCloud**

* * *

_Corneria_

The bomb had been found underground, just above a sewer pipe. The map they had received was extremely crude and vague, but thankfully, the engineers were able to dig through most of the street marked by the X and retrieve the bomb in time for Beltino to successfully defuse it, and it was now being analyzed by his team of specialists. The civilians, who had been trying all day to evacuate the city, were now backtracking their way home. Fox tried to make his way through the flood of people, some of whom were celebrating out in the streets. He was near his apartment when a soldier stopped him in his tracks.

"General Pepper has ordered me to take you to the base," said the soldier.

"What? What for?" asked Fox, looking confused.

"It's your father... he wants to speak to you..."

* * *

_Flagship_

"We have a connection," said Peppy, handing a PDA to James. "He should be there in a moment." James could barely get a grip of the PDA, so Peppy laid it next to him on his pillow.

"Thank you..." whispered James.

"Let's go."

"What?"

"Come on... we'll give him some privacy," Peppy said to the soldiers, who started to file out of the room. They were halted for a brief moment when ROB stumbled onto the floor; Daltrey picked the robot up and carried it out of the room.

"What the hell am _I_ supposed to do?" asked Plant from his bed.

"_You're_ supposed to be sedated right now," said Page, wheeling Plant's bed out of the room.

"We'll be back in a bit, Jimmy..." said Peppy. James slowly nodded back to him, drool running down his mouth. Peppy winced and looked away, shutting the door; it pained him to see James like that.

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

Fox could see a visibly shaken General Pepper standing at a console with a few others surrounding him. He was talking into a microphone, getting distorted signals back in response; it sounded like Colonel Banks, he wasn't sure. But whatever Banks was telling Pepper, it definitely wasn't good news. The soldier who escorted him to the base walked up to Pepper, alerting him of Fox's presence. Pepper looked back at him with sad eyes; Fox was startled at this. What was going on?

"What is it, sir?" he asked.

Pepper didn't respond at first. What was he supposed to say to him? That the Lylat System was about to be swarmed by Andross' army? That Andross was about to unleash dozens of experiments to terrorize other planets? That his father was on the verge of death? He sighed, then motioned Fox to come closer. Waving away the others around the console, he moved the microphone closer to him.

"Banks? Fox is here now."

_"Alright... I'll get James on the line," _Banks replied.

"Your father should be on any second." With that, Pepper patted his shoulder and left him alone at the console. Fox looked at the microphone, waiting for some sort of response from his dad. After waiting for about a minute, he tried speaking.

* * *

"...Hello?" No response. "Hello?" he said again.

James heard this and began to wheeze into the PDA. From the other end, Fox could only hear distorted sounds, which he didn't know what to make of. "Dad?"

"Hey... Fox..." James finally managed to say, his voice extremely raspy. He breathed heavily, feeling his lungs beginning to fail him.

"Dad? What's wrong?" asked Fox.

"Fox... before I left... that question..."

"What?"

"What were you... going to... ask me?"

Fox was beginning to worry. Even through the distortion of the weak signal, he could tell his dad was in bad shape. He's never heard him sound so feeble and weak. "I was going ask you... we've never really talked about this..."

"Wha... what was it?"

"I was going to ask... what was mom like?"

That question hit James like a hammer to the stomach. How could they have never talked about this? Eight years Vixy's been gone, and he's barely even _mentioned _her? _What the hell's wrong with me?_ Did he just not have the time to have a simple conversation about what she was like?

"Your mother... oh..." Where should he start? There was a billion things that he could tell Fox about his mother. "She was... such a... kind woman. She... she rarely ever... got angry." Fox listened as James continued to describe what his mother was like: kind, beautiful, loving, caring, the adjectives went on and on and on. And Fox stayed completely silent, absorbing every word of it. "She... loved you so much..." said James, coughing. "I wish... I wish I could've... taken that bullet... God, I miss her..."

Fox couldn't respond. He was still echoing his dad's words in his head, trying to picture them with the image he has of his mother.

"Dad?"

James didn't answer. Tears started to well up in his eye as he thought about his wife. _I'm going to see her again... I'm going to be with her forever... I wish Fox could come along with me... No... I wish we both could come back for him_... He inched his hand towards the PDA, trying to bring it closer but instead knocking it off the bed. His heart sank as he heard it shatter onto the floor. _No... I wasn't done..._ On the other line, Fox heard a loud thud, then static.

"Dad?!" he yelled into the microphone. On the console, the words Connection Lost flashed onto the screen. Pepper walked over to the console, seeing this. He sighed and sadly looked down at Fox, whose eyes were still locked on the screen.

* * *

James began to moan loudly. Almost on instinct, Peppy burst into the room, a look of alarm on his face. "What is it?" He looked down at the broken PDA on the floor. "I'll get another one..."

But before he could turn around, James grabbed onto his arm and tried to pull him closer. _I don't want to be alone..._ Peppy knelt down beside the bed. James moved his shaking hand towards his face, trying to brush off his sunglasses. His finger managed to get under the bridge, then he pulled them off very awkwardly, causing them fly out of his hand. Before they could hit the floor, Peppy caught them. He looked at James, who looked back with his one eye. Peppy had never seen his fake eye up close before; he's only ever seen it through the dark sun glass lenses or from the side. He could see a small tear crawling down James' left cheek.

"Fox..." he whispered, pointing to Peppy's hand. He stared down at his hand, clutching the sunglasses. He didn't know what to say. He was going to say how everything was going to be alright and how James would be able to give Fox these sunglasses himself soon, but he knew that wasn't true. James knew that as well. Peppy could already see the life fading away from his bloodshot left eye. Even so, James gave him a look of reassurance, a look as if to say that this wasn't the last time they were going to see each other. Looking down at the sunglasses, he began to tear up. A few of the tears dropped onto the lenses; he wiped them off with his sleeve.

"Jimmy... I'll take care of him..." Peppy finally said. "I'll watch over him for you... I promise... He'll be in good hands."

_Yes... I know he will... _James looked up at him and gave him the best smile he could possibly muster up at that moment. He then mouthed something, which Peppy interpreted as "Good bye," and with one final exhale, his body went limp. _So long... my brother... _

Peppy looked at the body with disbelief. His stomach began to ache; he felt as if he was about to throw up. His eyes had never been so wet before in his life. More tears began to stream down his face as he embraced James' lifeless body, whimpering on his shoulder.

* * *

_Cornerian Army Naval Base_

General Pepper scanned the beaten, downtrodden soldiers of the 12th Infantry as they stood in formation behind Colonel Banks. The injured were being wheeled out of the flagship on stretchers. "Casualties: 1024," said Banks. "Deaths: 671." Pepper rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb, not knowing how to respond to this. "We couldn't retrieve all of the bodies," added Banks. "And four of the casualties on board died on our way back..."

"How should I tell him?"

"Excuse me, sir?"

"What am I going to say to him?"

Banks paused for a second before realizing who he was talking about. "Is he here, sir?" Pepper nodded, to which Banks sighed.

"I'll tell him, sir," said Peppy, stepping forward.

"You sure?" asked Pepper.

"Yes sir. I have something to give him," he said, holding up James' sunglasses, to which Pepper's heart sank.

After all of the injured and the dead were wheeled out, Pepper sent Peppy along to break the news, but he didn't have to walk far. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Fox standing outside of the runway, his eyes red and puffy. Peppy immediately flashed back to the day of the shootout when Vixy was killed. He shut his eyes and exhaled, then walked up to Fox, who stood completely motionless. Standing a foot away from each other, Peppy held out his hand and opened it up, showing the sunglasses. Fox stared at them for a few seconds, tears running down his face, then slowly reached out for them. Peppy gently placed them onto his palm.

"I'm sorry..."

Without warning, Fox ran towards Peppy and threw his arms around his waist, wailing into his stomach. Peppy had never seen him so broken before. Fox rarely ever cried, even when he was a baby. At the age of two, he stopped a ten-year-old from crying after a false firm alarm in the apartment building. At that same age, he was able to withstand some of the most gruesome images ever captured on film during James' classes without wincing. He took his own father, who was on the verge of breaking down after Vixy's death, into his arms, telling him, "It'll be alright, Dad."

He was always so calm and collected, never letting himself show too much emotion. But this moment right here was the moment where Peppy had seen Fox at his most vulnerable point. And it hurt him. His stomach ached just as much as it did before. Shutting his eyes tightly to stop the tears, he placed his hands on Fox's upper back and on the top of his head, bringing him closer. If he was going to be Fox's guardian, Pepper had to act as if he really _were_ his father. But he knew, just as much as Fox did, that he wasn't here as a replacement for James. He was here because James was no longer here.

* * *

_General Pepper's Office_

Pepper sat at his desk, looking over all of the names of the injured and the dead. He read all 1024 of the names, feeling a surge of pain every time he read one. 1024 casualties... that was more than half the infantry. 671 dead... He repeated that number over and over in his head. 671 dead... He set the list down on his desk, rubbing his forehead. He then remembered what Banks had told him over the line. How could Andross have prepared all of that? How could Pepper have _let _him prepare all of that?

Why didn't he kill him when he had the chance? He was literally strapped in a chair, sitting right in front of him; he could've easily had him shot. Could that have possibly been the biggest mistake of his life? He was so sure the polluted atmosphere of Venom would kill him. But obviously he was horribly mistaken.

Was he really cut out for this job? Did he deserve to lead these people? Look at where they are and where they are about to be in the next few years because of his decisions! How could he possibly go on like this?

A knock on the door broke him out of his train of thought. "Yes?"

The door opened slightly, and a soldier peaked his head into the office. "The press are outside, sir. They want to hear an official statement from you..."

Good, he thought. He'll walk out there and tell the press exactly what's happening and what their situation will look like in the near future. Then after he apologizes for all of the damage he has done, he'll step down as leader. He'll retire and find another line of work. Surely they can find somebody better than him...

* * *

_Runway_

The sky was darkening and soldiers were hastily finishing up the stage when General Pepper walked outside, escorted by two soldiers. Accompanying him were a sea of photographers and interviewers who immediately started to swarm him with questions and flashes from their cameras. His escorts pointed their guns towards the crowd in order to clear a path and to make them shut up; they knew Pepper wasn't in the mood for this. As he walked up towards the stage, he saw the 12th Infantry soldiers still sitting outside. The press gathered in front of the stage, waiting for Pepper to speak.

Pepper adjusted his microphone, resulting in some slight feedback. He looked upon the crowd, all of whom stared back. Exhaling, he began:

"Five years ago, Andross Oikonny was captured by the late Maj. James McCloud..." The crowd murmured amongst themselves. The _late?_ "...and was exiled to the planet Venom, assumed dead. This proved to be a huge mistake on my part. Yesterday, there was an attack on the Cornerian Defense Force outpost on Fortuna by a small, then-unidentifiable army. Maj. McCloud, Cpt. Pigma Dengar, and Cpt. Peppy Hare of A Company, 12th Infantry were sent to investigate. It was later found out that this army was sent by Oikonny and that a bomb had been planted in downtown Corneria. To find the bomb location, McCloud, Dengar, and Hare flew to Venom.

"I sent the 12th Infantry, led by Col. Howard Banks, as backup. After they had reached the planet, Cpt. Dengar was revealed to be a traitor, and Maj. McCloud and Cpt. Hare were captured and imprisoned. While in prison, the 2000-man 12th Infantry encountered Oikonny's 10,000-man army, resulting in 1024 casualites and 671 deaths. Maj. McCloud and Cpt. Hare escaped prison, and while Cpt. Hare was able to reach his own company, Maj. McCloud stayed behind. He managed to find the bomb location, but he happened upon something else as well...

"He found that Andross has built up an army of 40 million by manipulating the lizards inhabiting the planet and that Oikonny had been experimenting on ways to use pollution to his advantage... the results of which are horrific. The city would have immediately collapsed had the bomb not been found.

"After escaping Oikonny, Maj. McCloud willingly gave up his own oxygen tank to save one of his own soldiers. As a result, he suffered from radiation poisoning, but he still managed to fly his Arwing back to his company and take out the remaining forces..." He paused at this statement, looking over at Peppy, Fox standing next to him. "Without him... we would have all been affected by Oikonny's pollution bomb... and we wouldn't have been made aware of what's to come in the near future..."

Pepper looked down at the crowd, all of whom gaped, their mouths wide open. Many of them looked afraid; they all looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

"It was my mistake to let Oikonny go like that. I should've known he would've found some way to survive. I take full responsibility, and..." This was it... these were going to be the last words he would say as general. "I..." He tried to say the words, but they wouldn't come out of his mouth. He looked at the 12th Infantry soldiers... the story he had just told suddenly came to him again. Everything those soldiers had gone through... everyone they had lost... they still didn't give up. They stood their ground the entire time. They held onto their honor as Cornerians. They did everything they could to prevent Andross' army from taking that away.

His eyes then shifted back to Fox, who looked back at him with the saddest eyes he's ever seen. His father had given up his life to save another. He was near death, and yet he still flew that Arwing back and took out those tanks. James McCloud deserved more Medal of Honors than anyone he's ever known. He didn't give up... his soldiers didn't give up... and he wasn't going to either.

"I'm going to rectify my mistakes. No matter what's coming our way, I'm going to tell you right now... Corneria will never crumble under the power of Andross Oikonny. He can send everything he's got... we'll retaliate with everything _we've _got. As James McCloud used to say, 'Never give up... Trust your instincts.' And Corneria will do just that..."

The crowd was completely silent as General Pepper walked off the stage, followed by his escorts. No flashes emitted from their cameras. Not a word was spoken amongst them. Pepper walked towards the 12th Infantry soldiers, all of whom immediately stood up and saluted him. He only shook his head.

"I should be the one saluting all of you right now..." He then turned to Fox, still close to Peppy. Kneeling down to the ground, eye-to-eye with him, Pepper placed his hand on his shoulder. "I just want you to know that your father is an inspiration to me... and to all of us. He'll never be forgotten..."

Fox looked up at him, a slight glimmer in his eye. Then, as Pepper walked away with the 12th Infantry soldiers trailing behind, his mouth formed a small smile. The first smile he's had all day.


	29. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

_Cornerian Army Memorial Cemetery_

_Eight Years Later_

A crisp, sunny morning started off a day of celebration and mourning for all of Corneria. After the defeat of Andross Oikonny, a special day was set aside for the soldiers of the Cornerian Army and the Cornerian Defense, living and deceased. Fox, Peppy, Falco, and Slippy watched from the front row of the crowd as General Pepper delivered a speech dedicated to all of the soldiers who had given up their lives for the planet. Fox and Peppy listened intently while Slippy and Falco shifted uncomfortably in their seats. It wasn't that they_ didn't _want to pay their respects to the fallen. They have bigger hearts than what people gave them credit for; it's just they wished Pepper's little tribute was a bit shorter.

After the speech, the crowd was free to wander around the cemetery to find their loved ones. Jack Lombardi, Matt Lynx, Pepper and Peppy went to find some of the Rangers while Fox, Slippy, and Falco hung out across the street. They really had nobody they knew personally inside. However, Peppy had quite a few he wanted to see again.

"Y'know, I felt sort of bad being in there," said Slippy.

"What do you mean?" asked Falco.

"I mean, we're not part of the army. We only do what we're paid to do. And yet we're in the front row..."

"Look, we _did _stop Andross and his army," said Fox. "General Pepper's just trying to show his appreciation for what we did... even if it was for a hefty price."

"I'm just glad he's stopped everybody from calling us 'scum bags', or 'greedy assholes,' or - my personal favorite - 'cold-hearted bastards.'" said Falco. "I mean, that was really uncalled for..."

Slippy looked to see Katt Monroe walking up from behind Falco. "Six o'clock, Falco..." he mumbled.

"Wha... HEY!" shouted Falco, being almost choked to death by Katt from behind, which was her definition of a hug. "Jesus Christ, Katt! Do you _always _have to do that?!"

Katt smiled, letting him go. "How's everything, guys?"

"I won't lie. It's been quite an awkward two hours," said Slippy.

"How's your dad doing?" asked Fox.

"He's... a wreck..." she said, smiling softly. "But he'll be fine by the end of the day. He's over by my uncle right now."

"Hey, I never got to thank you back in Zoness... and Macbeth... and Sector Z..."

"And everywhere else you decided to interfere with our work..." muttered Falco.

"It was the least I could do, tiger," Katt replied. "My dad was always grateful for what your father did for him; we're all grateful. That was my way of showing my thanks for your father."

"I'm sure he would appreciate you saving my ass multiple times," said Fox, smiling. Katt smiled back.

"Well, I gotta go find my dad. I'll see you all later." She hugged both Slippy and Fox, then tried to do the same to Falco, but he struggled out of her grip. Giving up on him, Katt waved goodbye and departed.

"What's _with_ you two?" asked Fox.

"I'd rather not say..." replied Falco, looking down at the ground.

Peppy walked around with Matt and Pepper while Jack followed in his hoverchair. He looked around, seeing many grave sites for A Company soldiers that had served under him. Some of them he had gotten to know quite well, while others he hadn't. He wished he could get to know them now. The war veterans then passed by the grave sites of many of the deceased Rangers. They all laid six feet underneath the ground, but the living Rangers could all feel their presence. They found Lucas Monroe kneeling down at his older brother's grave. He was whispering something, but they couldn't make out what it was. Near the end of the row was a larger gravestone engraved 'Major James Edwards.' In respect to their former officer, they all saluted the gravestone.

Peppy then returned to the group two hours later, after saying his goodbyes to Jack and Matt. He was visibly emotional, but the other guys didn't comment on this.

"Lunch?" asked Fox.

"Yeah... let's go," said Peppy.

Among the grave sites in the Cornerian Army Memorial Cemetery, there was one that was noticeably missing. If you were to go there to find the grave site of Major James McCloud, you wouldn't find it anywhere.

* * *

_Vermilion Street Cemetery_

Where you would find it is here. Chances are, this cemetery would not be the place you would expect to find a war hero like James McCloud to be buried in. It was a fairly large area which contained many grave sites on an expanding plain. On the far side, there was a large hill that contained only a few grave stones; the two near the top belonged to James and Vixy McCloud.

Fox walked up the hill alone, making his way past the other grave sites. Reaching the top, he dropped to his knees in front of his parent's graves. Looking at his mother's grave, he kissed the top of the stone, laying his hand on it. He then looked at his father's grave and reached into his pocket, pulling out a pair of sunglasses. He stared at the reflection of himself in the lenses; he did kinda look like his father. Slipping the sunglasses on, he sighed.

"Were you really there?" asked Fox in a quiet voice. "Did I really see you, guiding me out of that explosion? Or am I just crazy?"

It seemed impossible, but during the time when he thought his life was over, he saw a vision. A vision of his father's Arwing, leading him out of that tunnel. He showed him the way out of there. He saved his life. But how? For one thing, Fox was _in _his father's Arwing the whole time; how could there have been another? And, obviously, his father was six feet underneath him at this very moment. That couldn't have actually been him; that was just stupid. But... how else could he have found his way out of there? He didn't know the way back. That Arwing just seemed so real to him... and that voice...

"You alright?" asked Peppy from behind, causing Fox to lose his train of thought. He looked back to see Falco and Slippy standing there as well.

"Yeah... no, not really..." He stood up, his eyes still locked on the two gravestones. Peppy put his hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Well... let's go..."

The four of them began to make their way down the hill, only to find themselves blocked by a large crowd. Among this crowd, Fox could see Jack Lombardi, Beltino Toad, their wives, Matt Lynx, Lucas Monroe and his daughter, many A Company veterans, Colonel Banks, and even ROB-64, to name a few. General Pepper was at the front, smiling.

"We'd like to pay our respects."

Fox has never felt this happy his entire life before he saw this massive crowd of people. If there weren't so many looking right at him, he would've broken down and wept like a baby. Instead, he allowed only a few tears to fall and a smile on his face.

"Thank you..." And with that, Pepper led the crowd up the hill, many of them stopping for a moment to shake Fox's hand and/or give him a hug. Peppy, Slippy, and Falco watched from behind with huge grins on their faces ("All we need now is an orchestral arrangement by John Williams," said Slippy to Falco). After hours had passed and the mourners had left the cemetary, Fox finally allowed himself to let his happiness out by weeping into Peppy's shoulder, almost knocking off his sunglasses. This was only the third time Peppy has ever seen Fox this vulnerable. But in a good way.

_The End_


End file.
